lab partners
by LSgrimm91
Summary: Their past proved as chaotic as the present, but at one time, they were together. For Mulder and Scully, the time they shared made them who they are today. High school fic. Ends at the beginning of the series. Pre-series fic that ties in nicely.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: as hard as I am trying, I still don't own these characters… damn! Sadly, they belong to his majesty, the creator of the X Files universe and beyond; Chris carter. Who knows? Maybe one day I will create a show with characters as awesome as Mulder and scully; (if it's even possible?) then Chris carter will write fan fiction!! (Evil laugh).**

**Summary: scully is transferred to a new school at the start of her junior year. She has to contend with the head cheerleader, try to please her English teacher; Mr. Skinner, survive biology with a 'spooky' lab partner, avoid the three school geeks and face the biggest challenge of all; fitting into a new school. She's gonna have one hell of a year.**

**Summary: I felt like writing some overly dramatic, politically incorrect, utterly mindless fan fiction… so here it is! No idea where I'm going with this, so it will go where ever it takes me. Thanks go to those who saved me from my fatal disease: writers block. And of course to those who read and/or review my other stories, you Guys ROCK my little green alien socks off! (Yes, I own a pair!) Enjoy!**

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She stood out the front of the school gates, entirely unimpressed with her situation. Oh yes, Dana scully was not happy. Her father was a navy captain; that meant constantly moving from base to base, but this time was different. This was their last move; Ahab had requested to be given a new posting in a permanent location. It was admirable to make a decision like this for his family, Dana understood that. Doesn't mean she has to like it, yep, this definitely sucked beyond recognition. It wasn't so bad for her older brother or sister; bill could walk into a room and everyone would love him, instant popularity; he had the looks, the charisma and the athletic physique. Melissa had it easier, she was the free spirit of the family, she could go into a new school and have brand new friends clinging to her by the end of the day. Dana's younger brother was too young to care; he was still in primary school.

Dana was the odd ball. Her hair was bright red, redder than anyone else in her family; she had clear skin and fairly straight teeth, but she was a small person, in fact she was quite short for her age. She was fairly independent and very intelligent, but at the same time she was quite shy and she had trouble opening up to people emotionally. She was the one who had the most trouble fitting in.

'Oh well, one small step' she thought as she stepped into the school courtyard. She hugged her folder into her chest, listening to her converse sneakers as they walked up the stairs into the hall way of the school. There were lockers everywhere, but there were even more people than anything else. This made Dana really uncomfortable, she hated large crowds. Eventually she found her way to the student services office, getting her timetable and locker combination. Dana got into all the classes she had asked for: biology, English, chemistry, psychology, maths and history. She walked around till she found her locker, stupid thing, it wouldn't open.

"Hey, let me help you out there." A voice said from behind her. Dana turned around and was staring at someone's chest. She looked up, and was met with a very nice pair of green eyes on a sympathetic looking face. She nodded, slightly embarrassed, and moved aside to let him approach her locker. He gave it a good, solid thump just above the lock, and low and behold; it opened.

"Thank you." She said shyly.

"Um… no problem" the boy replied nervously. Scully instantly figured he didn't have much experience talking to girls. The bell rang.

"Where's your home group?" he asked as she turned to close her locker. Dana took out her time table.

"I don't know. All I know is that my home group teacher is a Mr. Skinner." Dana replied, not looking at him.

"That way," he pointed down the hall. "Two doors down."

"Thank you again" she said. She turned quickly and began running the now empty hall.

He stood for a moment and watched Dana run down the hallway. He wasn't sure why he decided to help her, but there was something about her that caught his attention. He didn't really talk to girls, not after phoebe, his primary school friend who he liked; but she turned around and used him for her own gain. No, he had lost a lot of confidence since then, but for some reason, he suddenly had a boost in self esteem. Why though?

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Dana liked her home group teacher the second she met him. He was a strict, no nonsense kind of teacher. Turns out, he was also her English teacher too. She instantly respected him because not only did his behaviour match her father's, but he also treated her like a normal person; he respected her intelligence and listened to her when she spoke. She still feared his authority too, because he enforced it in all his classes.

The class she couldn't wait for was biology. She was good at it, plain and simple. She had it on Wednesday with psychology and maths. Maths, one the other hand; was an impossible subject that she only took this year, so she could take it in her senior year. Dana knew early in life that she was destined to be a doctor, it was her dream. Unfortunately, that involved; for some stupid reason, maths. Psychology, she had never taken before, but being as brilliant as she was, she took It on as something to challenge her.

That afternoon, Dana arrived home to her waiting mother. Maggie always worried about Dana fitting in; she never worried about her grades. Dana had been averaging A's all her life.

"How was school Dana?" she asked her daughter sympathetically.

Dana paused and considered her day; she hadn't really made any new friends. But she remembered the boy who helped her with her locker, an act of kindness from a stranger. She smiled at the thought; "actually really good, mom." She said as she bounded up the stairs to her room.

Maggie was intrigued; Dana never enjoyed the first day of school, especially a new school. "Really?" she whispered to herself.

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Tuesday was similar to Monday. She sat by herself in class and during lunch. She wasn't being anti- social, she just had trouble establishing herself socially.

Wednesday rolled around, and Dana was surprised to find that she was actually late for biology. She ran to class and threw herself through the lab door just as her class was settling into their seats. She walked up to her teachers desk; "I'm sorry I'm late."

"That's alright. I was just assigning lab partners. Don't let it happen again. What's your name?" Her teacher replied. He was quite young for a biology teacher. He had brown hair and brown eyes to match.

"Dana scully?"

He looked down at the list of names in front of him. "Ah, yes, there you are. You're going to be working fox Mulder this year." He pointed to a boy sitting at a bench by himself. Scully looked over at him, his glasses sat on the end of his nose and he was fully engrossed in his text book.

"Okay, thank you." Dana said as she approached her new lab partner. He didn't acknowledge her.

"Fox Mulder?" he looked up at her and pushed his glasses back up his nose. He looked familiar. "I'm Dana scully; I've been assigned to work with you." She held out her small hand to him. She met his eyes as he shook her hand. Now she knew who he was; he was the guy who had helped her with her locker on her first day. She smiled widely, and he returned it.

"I think we've met before. Nice to meet you. Oh, and call me Mulder; I hate my first name." He said as he moved his chair over to make room for her and pulled out her stool for her.

"Well in that case, you can call me scully." She said confidently. Why was it so easy to talk to this guy? They spent the lesson talking and getting to know each other. He was quite shy, but as the lesson carried on, she could see his confidence growing. She could tell he was secretive; he avoided talking about his family. By the time the lunch bell rang, scully felt like she had made a friend.

He walked her to her locker and then to lunch. Normally scully would have been suspicious of his attentiveness; but all fears flowed away when he respectfully asked her to have lunch with him, rather than assuming she would. She didn't have anyone to eat with, so she agreed. They sat down at an empty table and began eating their lunch.

"So what other classes you got?" Mulder said, stuffing some fries in his mouth.

"Ah… English, maths, psych-" she said thoughtfully. She was interrupted when Mulder jumped in his chair. He was drinking out of his soda and made a 'just let me finish this' gesture with his hands. Scully waited for him to swallow his drink and speak rather than continuing.

"I have psychology too." He said lively.

"Oh really! Cool!" Scully said excitedly. She checked herself; she reacted perhaps a little too excitedly. She didn't want to seem too clingy to him. But she retracted that theory when he replied.

"Yeah I know! Do you mind if I sit next to you in that class too?" He said cautiously.

"Nah, go for it. It gives me someone to talk too.

He smiled at her. She suddenly had a battalion of butterflies in her stomach. It was weird; she was slightly nervous but still totally comfortable with him looking at her like that. She wondered, could she get a reaction out of him. She smiled sweetly back at him. He blushed and looked down at his burger. Yes! Ten points! I got him to blush! He likes me… uh oh.

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Next chapter; scully meets a cheerleader. A cat fight ensues. Who could it be??? Nah, it's obvious. Please review. Go on… press the button…. You know you want to…. :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: as hard as I am trying, I still don't own these characters… damn! Sadly, they belong to his majesty, the creator of the X Files universe and beyond; Chris carter. Who knows? Maybe one day I will create a show with characters as awesome as Mulder and scully; (if it's even possible?) then Chris carter will write fan fiction!! (Evil laugh).**

**Summary: scully meets Diana Fowley. Mulder explains his history with her and what scully is to expect. Scully gets into a fight with Diana; but for what reason? The real reason, at least.**

**A/note: I wan to draw this story out a bit, rather than rush Mulder and scully into a relationship. I am gonna use heaps of references to the show, but fiddle with the plot, (cos I can!) and I wanna mess around with the characters relationships too. Don't worry; I won't be stupid or anything. Props to xfilelover777 for giving me some ideas, And to all the rest of my reviewers for their feedback. So here's chapter 2!!**

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"Since when is your locker right next to mine?" scully asked as she once again; found she was struggling to open hers.

"Since this morning." Mulder said, placing his text books in his own locker. He shut it and leaned against it, watching scully.

"Any reason why?" she huffed.

Mulder chuckled. He leaned over and gave her locker a whack with his fist, causing it to open. "Well for one, it's near my classes; and two, so I can help you open yours."

She couldn't help but appreciate the gesture. "Fair enough."

It had been only a few weeks since she first met Mulder. Although they still had heaps of things to learn about each other; she had a strong sense of familiarity with him. It was like they had been friends for so many years; they didn't need to talk about themselves. He quickly learned to read the looks she gave him, and she had learned that when he said one thing; he meant another. They had begun meeting between classes and spent time together during lunch. Their friendship was still new and their personalities were very different; but they seemed to have bonded well.

They sat in the cafeteria one day during lunch. She enjoyed eating lunch with him, for some reason; lunch became the most enjoyable time of the day.

"Wonder what I have after lunch?" Scully said as she sifted through her bag trying to find her timetable. It was pathetic; she had been there for three weeks, and she still couldn't remember her classes.

"English." Mulder piped up. Okay… that was creepy. He knew her timetable already.

"As if you remember that?!" She queried.

"Photographic memory. Trust me; it's not that great. It's more of a curse than a gift." He replied, tapping his temple with his fingers.

"Serious? Damn, I wish I had a memory like that." She replied. It was true, she tended to forget things.

Mulder gave her a serious look and leaned over the table; looking her in the eye. "Scully, trust me when I say this; it's not something I enjoy. You do _not_ want a memory like mine."

Scully didn't say anything. Why was it so bad? You would never forget anything. Then it dawned on her. _You would never forget._ Every memory, no matter how terrible; would live with him for the rest of his life. His attitude to his memory told her he must have experienced something awful in his past, and suddenly, she felt very sympathetic towards him.

"Hi fox" a voice said from behind Mulder. He unwillingly broke scully's gaze and turned around. Oh crap.

Scully looked up to see a tall, brunette girl in a cheerleader outfit standing behind Mulder. Mulder turned back and looked down at his lunch.

"Hi Diana." He grumbled.

Diana sat down next to him, totally ignoring the fact that he was in the middle of a conversation. She didn't even acknowledge scully. He looked extremely uncomfortable now.

"Fox, I was wondering if you could do me a favour…" she said.

"I'm not helping you with your English homework Diana." He said grumpily.

"Oh, come on! Just help me do this assignment. We can meet after school; I promise, it will only take an hour." She whined, wriggling closer to him.

"I can't," he looked up at scully. "Me and scully are studying at her place."

This wasn't true. Scully understood the look he was giving her though, his face was begging her to go along with his story. Diana finally looked at her, she stared at her angrily.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Diana fowley." She said uncomfortably. She shook scully's hand quickly and forcibly. It was obvious that she wasn't impressed with scully occupying Mulder's time.

"Dana scully." She replied politely. Diana quickly returned her attention back to Mulder; who had scooted away from her when she wasn't looking. He looked not only uncomfortable, but unimpressed as well.

Diana leaned into him and whispered; "well, we'll catch up later." Before she stood up and walked away. Mulder rolled his eyes and sighed in relief.

"You okay, Mulder?" Scully asked concernedly.

Mulder looked away from her. "It's a long story. Basically we used to be friends, back in the last few years of primary school; but mostly because she thought I was cute and she could copy all my homework. When we got to high school, she only talks to me when she wants something. She still likes me though, but I don't like her back. She gets jealous when I talk to girls, and makes their life hell. She thinks I'm her property. You should be careful." He shrugged.

"I can hold my own. That's really cruel though, she shouldn't treat you that way."

Mulder met her eyes. She was taking his side, most of the time; girls backed off from him. But scully, was worried about how he felt. God she was wonderful. "Have fun in English then." He replied.

"Why?"

"We have it with Diana, remember?" He chuckled.

Scully didn't really notice. She sat at the back of the class with Mulder, and never took much notice of her classmates. Thinking about it; he was right. Diana sat at the front of the class with all the popular people. She nodded at him, but smiled to reassure him that she could survive the lesson.

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Mulder and scully were late for English. The seat that scully usually occupied, was now taken by a guy with beady rat-like eyes. Mulder's seat was still free though. There was one other chair free in the classroom; right at the front, next to Diana.

"You can take my chair if you want." Mulder whispered.

"No Mulder. You take the seat next to rat boy," Mulder smiled at her, "I'll take the one next to Diana."

Mulder smiled and gave her a look that asked 'you sure?' Scully smiled back at him and nodded her head. Wow, silent conversation; this was pretty cool, they had read each others mind. They separated and took their seats.

After about five minutes; Diana slid a folded piece of paper over to scully. Scully looked up at Mr. Skinner to make sure he wasn't watching. She opened it.

'_So how long have you known fox??'_

Scully considered her answer. She knew Diana didn't like her, but she wasn't going to let her treat her as bad as she did Mulder. She replied,

'_Since the start of the year. You?'_

'_We go way back… we are really close.'_

'Bullshit!' thought scully, she had to see this conversation though;

'_Really??? Mulder never mentioned you! And we hang out all the time!'_

'_Oh… all the time? Wow. Aren't you bill scully's sister?'_

'_Yeah, and Melissa's too. Do you know her?'_

'_I know of her…'_

'_What do you mean???'_

'_Nothing. I just heard a few rumours about her. That's all.'_

This struck a nerve. If Diana wanted to mess around with her, fine. She could handle herself. But NOBODY messed with her family. They had been at the school for only a few weeks and Melissa wasn't dating anyone. They hadn't been there long enough for rumours to be flying.

'_Care to share?'_

Diana scrunched up the paper and hid it in her pencil case. She and scully turned to face each other, scully was very interested to hear what Diana had to say about her family.

"Well, there's one about her sleeping with some guys on the football team. Apparently she had a scare when she got pregnant" Diana smiled at her. She was doing this deliberately and scully knew it. But she was going to find the person who had started this rumour and beat them stupid. This was not cool.

"Can I ask… who said that and when?" Scully whispered as steadily as she could.

Diana leaned in and smirked at scully. "Put it this way, I haven't started _that_ particular rumour yet. And I won't, if you leave my fox alone."

All composure that scully had prided herself on was gone. She was so angry she had no idea what was happening. Her fist connected with Diana's right eye. Diana fell to the floor; scully slid off her chair and stood over her. Diana quickly got herself up from the floor and grabbed scully's hair as she began punch any part of her she could. Mr. Skinner wasn't in the room; he had ducked out of the classroom to talk to another teacher.

Mulder was quick to react. He flew from his chair and held Diana back, trying to keep her from doing any more damage to scully. Scully was lying on the ground; her lip was bleeding and she had a bruise forming on her forehead, she held her ribs. Diana didn't look any prettier; she had a black eye developing and her nose was bleeding.

Mr. Skinner had finally arrived to investigate the noise his class was making.

"What the hell is going here?!" He yelled, approaching the scene. Diana was still struggling against Mulder to try and get another hit in at scully, who was still lying on the floor in pain. She felt like she had cracked a rib, because breathing hurt her chest.

"Sir. I think it's pretty obvious what happened here. I think Dana needs to see the nurse." Mulder said. Diana, noticing that Mr. Skinner had returned; quickly calmed down and stepped back from Mulder. Mr. Skinner looked down at scully.

Mr. Skinner looked at Mulder. "Fox, take Dana to the nurse's office," he then looked at Diana. "_You_ are coming with me to the principal's office"

"Fine, but I didn't start it. She did. I'm the innocent one here." She said smugly. She wasn't at all concerned with the fact that she was in trouble.

"That will be for Mr. Spender to decide. Now come with me." She followed him out of the classroom.

Mulder knelt down next to scully and hooked her arm around his shoulder; he rested his other hand on her waist. He lifted her up to her feet; she winced in agony. They walked slowly out of the classroom, once they were out of the view of their class mates, scully finally spoke up, she was if anything, a trooper;

"AH! Mulder, I can't walk that fast! I reckon I cracked a rib." She said as her legs buckled beneath her.

"Okay then… um, alright." Mulder nervously said as he leant down and put one hand behind her knees, and the other behind her back. He carefully, yet effortlessly, picked her up and began walking down the hall. She relaxed in his arms; the pain had subsided a little. "Care to explain what that was about, by the way. What did she say to you?"

Scully thought about it. Diana had threatened her sister, which was part of the reason she reacted. But was it also the fact that she treated Mulder badly? Who was she defending? Melissa… or Mulder? She looked up at him, "It doesn't matter Mulder." he nodded. She rested her thumping head on his chest as they reached the nurse's office. She felt more comfortable in Mulder's caring arms than she had since she began school. That was definitely something interesting that she didn't understand. Right now though, she didn't care.

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**Okay, I took that a little further than I intended. If you liked it, or you want more, just hit that review button and speak your mind. I love feedback!! Sorry if it took a while to update. Next chapter should be up in the next 48 hours. SNEAK PEEK: what would bill say if he found out scully got in a fight? And why didn't Diana get into trouble for fighting with scully… I feel a conspiracy coming along ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: as hard as I am trying, I still don't own these characters… damn! Sadly, they belong to his majesty, the creator of the X Files universe and beyond; Chris carter. Who knows? Maybe one day I will create a show with characters as awesome as Mulder and scully; (if it's even possible?) then Chris carter will write fan fiction!! (Evil laugh).**

**Summary: Mulder visits scully at her house after her encounter with Diana. Melissa starts playing cupid; Mulder comes clean about his past, has a confrontation with bill and begins to try and understand scully.**

**A/note: hi world! Happy New Year! I wanna introduce bill and Melissa to Mulder this chapter (don't we remember how well that went in the series?!) Sorry for the long wait guys! I had a relapse in my disease (writers block); but for my other story, 2012. Keep those reviews coming, they make my day. Enjoy!**

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Scully did indeed crack a rib that day, leaving her bed ridden for a week. She endured endless questioning; mostly from bill, he couldn't conceive an excuse for scully getting into a fight. Scully didn't tell him Mulder had anything to do with her fighting with Diana, she only told him about what she threatened to do. Melissa didn't care; Diana was a bug on her shoulder, she was a little flattered that scully had defended her.

"Dana, you have never gotten into a fight. People will say things, but you don't have to beat the crap out of them when they do!"

"I know missy… it's just…" scully trailed off and held onto her pillow.

Melissa readjusted herself to sit on scully's bed. "Danes, what else was it? I know you; I know when there's another reason."

Scully bit her lip. "Yeah. There is. But I didn't want everyone else to know, _especially _bill, you know how possessive he gets."

"Look Dana, you know you can tell me anything. I won't tell bill, I promise. Just tell me what else that little pom pom princess said."

Scully smiled. She could trust missy to make light of any situation, and she could trust her to keep a secret.

"You know that guy I've been hanging around with at school?"

"What, the 'spooky' kid?" Scully frowned. Melissa elaborated;

"I don't know why everyone calls him that; I mean, apparently he's really smart, but something happened to his sister and he kinda lost it. I don't know, people don't talk about it much;"

Scully considered how this tied in with what she knew about Mulder already. It made sense now that he didn't talk about his family to her; if something had happened to his sister, he would remember everything about it.

"So what does he have to do with you get into a punch up with Diana?"

"Okay, but promise you won't tell anyone this stuff either;" Melissa nodded. "Well she treats him really badly; like she owns him, he doesn't like her. She just uses him. Anyway, I was stuck next to her in English; and she said she would start that rumour about you if I didn't "leave her fox alone", so that and threatening you, I just cracked.

Melissa was silent for a moment. "What a bitch!" she finally piped.

"I know! She's just so…" she trailed off, shaking her hands in front of her as she tried to find the appropriate word.

"Jealous?" Melissa chimed in. Scully frowned and blinked.

"Excuse me?! What the hell are you implying?!" Because lord knows that she didn't know what her sister was talking about.

"Well… you took away her little boy toy. She was defending her territory."

Oh. Scully knew what she was implying now. She thinks I like Mulder; well I kinda do. But he is nice and fun and sweet. He carried me to the nurse's office. But that's it. She ignored her sister's insinuation.

"Mulder doesn't deserve to be treated that way. I didn't like Diana's behaviour and I let her know that. End of story." She said sternly. She faked a yawn. It was late, but it wasn't like she had school tomorrow; Diana got a three day suspension, scully got ten school days; for throwing the first punch. Her parents weren't impressed, but Ahab always said that you fight for others, never for yourself. He was secretly a little proud of his little girl. Maggie scully was more concerned about scully's injuries to care about the cause.

Melissa moved off the bed. She stopped at the door and turned to her sister. "So you didn't fight to defend him because he means something more to you?"

"Mulder is my friend. He helps me with my locker and sits next to me in class. We eat lunch together and talk like normal people. Nothing more."

Melissa turned back to the door and let out a slight unconvinced 'uh-ha'. She closed the door behind her, but not before; "night Danes."

"Night missy"

Scully was now left alone in her dark room with her own thoughts. Was that true? Did she hit Diana because she had treated him badly in the past? Or because she was treating him badly because perhaps; his attention was finally directed elsewhere? Was Diana the one who was feeling threatened? Scully didn't trust herself to hypothesize.

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Melissa was one her way to her history lesson when she was tapped on the shoulder. She stopped and turned to see Mulder standing behind her with a bunch of books in his arms.

"Are you Melissa scully?"

Yes, are you fox Mulder? Dana's friend?"

Mulder felt a little flustered by the question: scully had mentioned him to her sister?

"Yeah… look I was wondering if you could drop these to scully;" he held up the books in his hands. "It's just her homework; I'd drop it off at her house but I don't where you guys live."

Melissa had an epiphany, of sorts. She smiled and pulled a pen and piece of paper from her purple folder. She waved her finger in the air, telling him to turn around. She began writing on the paper, using mulder's back as a flat surface.

"Here's our address. I'm going down to the mall after school and bill has a free lesson now; so he probably went home. You can stop by and give them to her yourself. She would appreciate it more and I think she misses you a bit."

"Really?" Mulder couldn't help being curious now.

"Just an observation. I do live with her you know!" She shrugged

Mulder chuckled and looked at his feet. He hadn't seen scully for three days, and he had to admit, at least to himself; that he wanted to see her. In fact, he was quite anxious to see her again. He was feeling a little lost at school without her.

"Okay, um… I'm late for class so, I'll drop these by straight after school." He said, taking the piece of paper from Melissa. Hey thanked her and ran down the corridor. She watched him leave and couldn't help admiring his enthusiasm. Okay, so maybe he wasn't so weird. Maybe he was a good guy. Question was; was he good enough for her little sister? And would she they work that out before it as too late?

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Scully lay on the floor, next to her bed in her pyjamas. She had gotten bored with herself by about 10 o'clock; so she dug up an old journal from the mysterious hidden world under her bed and began writing down every thought and question that popped into her head. She read through the part that she wondered the most about; the part about Mulder.

'_Why do I feel so protective over him? He is not mine, I am not his; we simply seek the friendship of the other. Is our friendship so easily formed because of our desperation to feel accepted? Why do I feel alone in a crowd without him by my side? Why does he attend to me so faithfully? Is it simply his caring nature? Why do I enjoy his presence? He is so insecure; not only with the world, but with himself. I feel an uncomfortable pain when I see he is suffering. I want to pull him close, tell him I'm there if he needs me. I have only known him for four weeks, but why are we as comfortable around each other as people who have known each other for years? I want to know more, I want to learn about his past. I want to be one of the few people he lets get close to him. I feel like I could even let him get close to me in return…'_

She was interrupted by a knock on her door. She looked up to see her mother's smiling head pop through the door. Scully smiled back.

"Dana, you have a visitor." She opened the door further and held it opened the door. Mulder walked in nervously. Dana slammed her diary shut.

"Hey scully. How you feeling?" He set the books on the bed and sat down next to her on the floor. Maggie left them to talk in private, but left the door ajar.

"Better. How did you find my house, Mulder?"

"Your sister. I caught her at school and she gave me the address." He shrugged.

Dammit. Missy was playing cupid again. She normally didn't mind if it was some random guy but she did mind if it was Mulder.

"Ah, sounds like something she would do." She paused; then sat up and gave Mulder a careful hug. She was still soar around her chest. Mulder tensed in surprise, but patted her back. She pulled back;

"Thanks Mulder." She said shyly.

"For what?"

"Well you did kinda carry me to the nurse's office, and you did drop by to give me my homework."

Mulder looked down at his sneakers so she wouldn't see him smile and blush. "Yeah, well…"

There was silence; but not an awkward one. It was soon gone when Charlie ran into the room, "Dana!"

Scully accepted the welcoming cuddle from her younger brother. Mulder saw her wince in pain, but not say anything. He was amazed by her. She could be so proud and guarded; yet so very warm and affectionate. He admired her ability to balance all that.

"Charlie, this is Mulder. He's friend from school." Charlie waved to Mulder from scully's lap where he sat.

"It's okay, you can call me fox." Mulder said to the small red haired boy tenderly.

Scully frowned. Why don't I get to all him fox? Mulder saw her expression, and felt she deserved an explanation. No matter how painful it would be to call up the painful memory, and how great the risk that scully might thing he was crazy; he trusted her. But maybe not Charlie as much.

Scully pushed Charlie off her lap, "go start your homework, Charlie." He gave her a pout, he was a kid; he hated homework. "Go!"

Charlie got up and slumped out of the room but not before waving to Mulder. "Bye fox!"

Mulder waved back and turned to scully. "I only let little kids call me fox; my sister called me by my first name. But after what happened to her, I don't let anyone else except those special few call me that. It's a really long story. One that not many want to know about…"

"Well Mulder, I have a lot of free time. And I do want to hear this. You know my story Mulder; although there's not much to know, but I really want to know your story." She sat up and grabbed hold of her bed. She struggled to pull herself back up onto her bed. Her ribcage still made movement awkward. Getting off the bed was no problem; it was just getting back on that was the problem.

Mulder stood and grabbed her by the lower waist, trying to avoid touching her sides. They both noticed the sensation of his touch; but chose to ignore it, for now. He lifted her up to her bed and sat down on the end. He crossed his legs and threw her comforter over her once she was settled against her pillow. She waited patiently.

"A few yeas ago, when I was 12; I witnessed the abduction of my younger sister, Samantha. She was 8."

Scully reached forward, slowing stopping momentarily, to grab his hand. He didn't want her to exert herself; so he reached to grab hers in return.

"Now there is one thing that usually makes people leave the room or laugh at me"

"I'm not leaving; and I'm certainly not going to laugh at you…" she rubbed her thumb against Mulder's wrist.

He looked at her cautiously. "I think she was abducted by aliens."

She didn't move, but she did bite her bottom lip. She didn't pull her hand back. "Why?"

"We were in the lounge room playing a board game; my parents weren't home at the time. This light came through the window; blinding, white light. I couldn't move, I just couldn't. Samantha was floating in the air, almost weightless. She moved across the room, then, she was gone. Ever since then I was blamed for her disappearance." His eyes were watering, he looked down at scully's hand, still resting in his.

Scully now understood why he never spoke of his family; for two reasons. Any normal person would think he was a loon. But the fact that it was obvious a painful and vivid memory, she felt sympathy towards him. Her silence was probably making him nervous.

"That must have been terrible, Mulder…" Was all she could say. She was sceptical, but still open to other possibilities. She believed he was telling the truth, but she also believed the may be a better explanation that aliens.

He continues to look at his hands. She was still there; she wasn't laughing or calling him a freak. She was still there; in all her own pain, listening to him.

"And I believe you." She whispered. It was technically true.

He looked up and met her tired eyes with his own. She believed him? Wow, she just became one of his most important friends, and most cherished.

They stayed in scully's room talking. They soon realized it was nearly 7 o'clock, so Mulder had to leave. He got up to leave, but not before giving into scully's demand for a hug; which he readily obeyed. He left her to have her dinner and get some sleep; promising he would stop by the next day.

Mulder walked down the stairs and went to the kitchen where he found Maggie cooking dinner. He told her he might drop by tomorrow, then respectfully thanked her for having him over.

"No problem fox, you're welcome any time you chose." She smiled at him. She liked him, he looked out for Dana.

Mulder would have objected to her use of his first name; but it sounded very comforting coming from a mother figure such as her.

He left her and walked though the lounge room and head for the door. Bill spotted him from the stair case and stopped him.

"You're that kid my sister got into a fight over." Bill said accusingly.

"Sorry?" Mulder wondered what the hell he was talking about.

"Dana, my sister. Everybody at school said that she got into a fight with Diana because of you. I don't know what the exact reason was; not yet at least; frankly I don't care. All I know is that my little sister is lying upstairs with a cracked rib because you can't fight your own battles."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I know Diana threatened Melissa-"

"And you" bill interrupted.

"Like I said, I don't know anything about that."

"You're pathetic, man…" bill said taking a step into Mulder's personal space.

"Bill! Leave Mulder alone!" They turned and saw scully at the top of the staircase, watching the drama unfold.

"Dana? Did you get into that fight because of him?!" Bill pointed at Mulder.

"I fought for my own reasons. If Diana wants to go around the school saying things about me, then that's up to her. My reasons for hitting her are entirely my own…" she limped down the stairs towards them, bill was fuming, and his face had gone scarlet red. "And they are not any of your business." She directed this comment at bill.

Bill looked at Mulder, them back at scully; then stormed out of the room. Scully reached the base of the staircase.

"I want you to come back tomorrow, Mulder."

"Definitely" Mulder didn't need convincing. She just became his best friend.

Needless to say; Mulder kept his promise to scully, he visited her the next day. And most of the days after that.

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**So what will happen when scully gets back to school? Does bill find out the truth of what Diana said? Read the next chapter to find! Next chapter is pretty dramatic and angsty, if you like that; read on! If not, read on anyway. Don't forget to hit the little review button!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: as hard as I am trying, I still don't own these characters… damn! Sadly, they belong to his majesty, the creator of the X Files universe and beyond; Chris carter. Who knows? Maybe one day I will create a show with characters as awesome as Mulder and scully; (if it's even possible?) then Chris carter will write fan fiction!! (Evil laugh).**

Summary: scully is allowed back to school earlier than she was supposed to. Bill confronts her, she meets krychek, spots Mulder with Diana (uh oh!), scully gets into trouble and gets saved by three nerds… hmm I wonder who that is.

A/note: if (god forbid), you actually like bill; I turn him into a big asshole. If you like Diana (your crazy), I made her a mega bitch (if possible…). I had to write a dramatic chapter! I also took a leap of faith and made Mulder do something mean (but not deliberately!!) this chapter is told from scully's POV; and a little bit from mulder's.

PS: sorry for the long wait! :(

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Scully sat in silence in the principal's office; by her self, waiting for Mr. Spender to arrive and tell her if she was allowed back. Her suspension ended in two days, but the school had reviewed the case and considered ten days a bit harsh. Her rib had healed well, but she was still sore. She sat in silence in front of his desk and took in her surroundings; the office was quite bare, the mahogany desk had simple stationary, an ash tray and a manila folder resting on top. Behind it was a large deep red, leather chair, it looked too important to be living in the office of a public high school. The room was dimly lit and smelled of cigarette smoke, 'where the hell is he?' She thought to herself. As soon as the thought entered her head, the door opened.

Mr. Spender was a gray haired man in his mid fifties. He wasn't around that much, not many of the students had actually had a full conversation with him; he had this creepy habit of standing in classes and watching the lesson in total silence though. He was so illusive; scully wondered whether even the teachers saw him. He sat down behind his desk and leaned back into his leather chair; his eyes watching scully like a predator; they were the kind a normal person would hesitate to meet. 'I'm not afraid of you' scully thought as she looked right back. Her pride wasn't going to fail her now. She was going to be the first to speak;

"So, Mr. Spender; can I come back to school?" She said confidently, if not somewhat arrogantly.

He simply tilted his head slightly; he leaned forward in his chair and picked up the folder on his desk. His eyes left hers to look at the document in front of him.

"You have only been at this school a few weeks miss scully; and you have behaved yourself; excluding this incident of course. I took the liberty of pulling your personal records from the other schools you have attended. Your reputation has followed you here; all of your teachers say you are a bright and pleasant student. They say you have adjusted well to your new environment…"

Scully would normally have smiled at comments such as these; but in this office, she felt the need to keep her guard up; she felt as though this man wasn't to be trusted. She kept her face blank and tried the best to keep eye contact. Mr. Spender continued;

"They also say you have developed a friendship with fox Mulder;" scully cocked her head slightly. "It is blatantly obvious that you are not a violent character, miss scully; hell you haven't had detention since the fourth grade." He opened one of his desk draws at pulled out a box of cigarettes. "This leads me to wonder what factor contributed to this sudden change. It makes me wonder why you felt the need to get into a fight." He put a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it.

Scully knew what he was asking. She also knew the story that Diana was spreading around the school; Diana had heard a rumour about Melissa and that she had a thing for Mulder, apparently scully got all defencive and attacked her. Scully wasn't going to tell him, it wasn't any of his business, he thought what Diana had said was true. Heck, scully hadn't told anyone her side of the story. Not even Mulder. Admitting the truth would bring up uncomfortable questions that scully didn't want to answer. The only people who knew the truth were her and Diana.

"Sir, can I, or can I not come back to school?" She said sternly.

He hesitated and closed the folder before him. He placed it on his desk and flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette.

"You may… I don't think you'll be getting into any more conflict with Miss Fowley. Am I correct?" A hint of satisfaction penetrated his voice.

Scully stood from her chair and raised her eyebrow condescendingly. No way was she gonna let him win. "Of course Mr. Spender." And with that she left the office. She headed down the hall. No one was expecting her to be let back, luckily class was already running, and there was an hour till the day ended.

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Scully walked towards the library, her home work in her arms. She came to the library and found a lot of desks were occupied, except for one table that had only one person sitting at it. Crap. It was rat boy. She took a deep breath and sat down at the desk; sitting directly opposite him. He looked up at her; "hi." He said nervously. Scully pitied him. He looked like a sad, somewhat hen pecked, lonely guy; she smiled in politeness.

"Hi, I'm Dana scully."

He dropped his pen onto his book and offered his hand. "Alex krychek. Nice to meet you." She shook his hand. They were slightly sweaty. Eew…

"Nice to meet you too." She always gave people the benefit of the doubt.

The two studied in silence, until Alex stood and left her to study on her own. She was slightly relieved, the silence was incredibly uncomfortable. After about ten minute, scully was startled when someone slipped into the chair next to her. It was bill.

"I didn't think you were allowed back for a few days?"

"Well I convinced spender to let me come back early. I don't want to miss out on the fun."

"Dana, I've got to ask… why did you hit Diana? Is it because she liked that spooky Mulder guy, and you got jealous? Or-" scully glared at him. How dare he speculate! It wasn't any of his business, and why the hell did he believe Diana's story?! Bill took her stare entirely differently.

"So it's true… Jesus Dana! You're getting possessive over an asshole like that and take it out on Diana?! She's not that bad if you got to know her! She says she's over the whole incident!"

Scully's mouth opened in shock. Bill was taking Diana's side and hadn't heard her side of the story. True, she hadn't told it.

"Bill! What Diana is going around telling people is not the truth! I am not possessive over Mulder!" Her voice was raised. Bill stood up from his chair next to her shaking his head;

"Dana, I don't want to hear it…" and with that he walked away.

Scully sat in furious, brooding silence. How could bill possibly believe Diana over his own sister? How could he think she was so territorial as to start a fight? Her thoughts were interrupted the bell. She gathered her books and threw them into her bag. She stopped and checked herself; because no mater how angry she felt right now, showing it was not an option. It was a weakness, which was something she didn't need to flaunt in front of the school. She took a breath and stepped out of the library into the now crowded hallway.

She was ignored by her peers, all occupied by their own lives to notice her. Scully walked down the hall towards her locker; but stopped when she saw Mulder at his locker, with Diana. She stood frozen in her place and watched as Diana took mulder's hand in her own. Scully instantly turned and ran down the hallway and out into the court yard. She was stressing out to the max. She noticed the stares of the other students; she had to get out of there. Scully took off towards the school oval out climbed to the top of the bleachers. She sat and brought her knees up to her chest. She felt very alone and small at this moment as she sat and watched the footballers start their practice.

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It was almost 5 o'clock, but scully still sat on the beachers. She sighed; her family would be getting worried about her by now. She stood and walked down the steps. She walked around behind the bleachers; she spotted three guys sitting underneath with laptop computers in their laps. Boy, did they look like nerds. One was dressed slightly formally and had well combed brown hair. Another had longer blonde hair that came to his shoulders and thick glasses. The third was rather short and had very short, very short hair. Scully continued past them, she walked through the court yard and spotted pair of guys walking towards her. They looked like seniors. She looked at the ground and attempted to walk past them; but accidently walked into one of them.

"Oops… better watch were you're going." He said grabbing her shoulders.

"Sorry, I was just in a hurry to get home."

"We can walk you home, you shouldn't be walking around by your self… could be dangerous." The other boy said.

Scully felt a wave of insecurity wash over her. "No thank you." She tried to push past the boy. He let her go, but they followed her.

"What? Don't you trust us?"

"I don't know either of you" she was beginning to panic.

The other guy grabbed her wrist, spinning her around. "Well I'm Daniel Waterston, and this is my mate Ed Herse. Now you know us."

"Look, I don't want you guys to walk me home. I will manage just fine." She tried pulling her wrist free of Daniel's tight, painful grip, unsuccessfully.

"Hey! we are trying to do a nice thing here. The least you could do is oblige us."

"Let me go! Let go of me now!" Scully struggled against Daniel's grip. She heard multiple footsteps behind her.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" It was the three nerds from under the bleachers, scully wasn't thrilled, but she was relieved. She turned back to Daniel and Ed. Daniel let go of her wrist. "Come on, Ed; let's go, I don't want to deal with the weirdo brigade." They walked away. Scully rubbed her now very red and sore left wrist. Shit, that's gonna bruise. She turned to the three guys standing behind her.

"Thank you." She whispered.

They approached her. She was cautious, and she certainly wasn't going to show any weakness if front of three strangers, but they had just helped her out.

"I'm frohike. This here's Byers and Langley;" the shortest guy said. He pointed to his two friends. Langley approached scully and held out his hand. Scully frowned.

"I have a first aid certificate; I just wanted to see if your wrist is okay." He said calmly. She careful placed her wrist in his hands. As he examined it;

"I'm Dana scully. I'm still fairly new to this school. I only started this year."

"Dana scully?" Byers looked at frohike and Langley with his eyebrow raised and a smile on his face, his friends returned it.

"What?" Scully wondered. They probably heard about her and Diana. Langley released her hand.

"It will bruise a lot, but it ain't broken or anything." He moved away to stand by his still smiling companions.

Frohike put his hands in his pockets; "so _you're_ Dana scully? We've heard heaps about you from a friend of ours."

Scully was confused. They aren't thinking of me and Diana fighting… who are they talking about?

"Who's been talking about me?"

"Fox Mulder. He talks about you quite a lot. He says some _very_ nice things about you." Byers smirked.

"I'm sure. He seems to have found a new friend to replace me though." She mumbled loudly.

The boys looked confusedly at her and each other. Scully elaborated;

"I saw him getting nice and snugly with Diana fowley today. He doesn't care about me," she remembered that no one knew she partly fought for Mulder. "And I guess he never will! God knows why I believed him when he said he hated her!" She felt some small tears forming in her eyes. Why? Why?! Why was this getting to her! Why did she care?

Frohike stepped forwards and stood closely in front of scully. "Dana; we can guarantee you that Mulder cares abut you and your safety. What ever you think happened with him and Diana; it wasn't what it looked like. He does hate her, especially after what she did to you. Look, you have no reason to trust us; we only just met, but you can definitely trust Mulder."

Scully looked at her feet and watched a lone tear drop fall and hit her converse. They didn't know. Mulder didn't know. And maybe scully didn't know what she saw today in the hall. She wiped her eyes and looked up. "He doesn't know the real reason why I hit Diana, he doesn't know what I did for him… thank you guys, and I appreciate your help." With that she turned and run through the court yard down the road.

Frohike, Byers and Langley looked at each other and walked bag towards the oval.

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Mulder watched scully run from behind one of the buildings. He turned and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Was what bill said true? Did she hit Diana because she said something bad about him? He didn't believe for a second that scully would do it for no reason; or even a reason as petty as the one Diana had described. It must have been personal if she managed to poke at scully's iron coated nerves. She had seen him… she saw him with Diana. Oh god…

He slid down the wall and punched the ground, hard. She saw him talking to Diana and took it the wrong way. He punched the ground again, ignoring the blood beginning to trickle onto the ground. He brought his hands up and covered his face. He recalled the conversation in the hall;

'_Fox?' Diana tapped his shoulder._

"_what do you want Diana?' he said harshly turning to face her._

'_How are you?'_

'_I'm feeling a bit lonely since you beat the shit out of my best friend, leaving her at home with a cracked rib!' he said sarcastically and angrily._

'_She threw the first punch, and she was being very possessive of you fox. How can you be friends with a girl like that? You don't need her.'_

'_Oh and suppose you know exactly what I need…' he snarled._

_She stepped forwards and grabbed his hand. 'You need someone to comfort you' she smiled sweetly._

_He held his glare for a few seconds, he was so angry he had to stop and gain control of himself. He wrenched his hand from hers._

'_I certainly don't need you. I never have. I have a good friend in scully. She actually gives a damn, unlike you.'_

'_Fox, you know that's not true;' Mulder scoffed at this and diverted his eyes. Then he spotted scully running through the front doors and outside. She wasn't supposed to be here? Mulder thought. Diana continued anyway. 'Ditch the red head, fox, you know where you belong.'_

_Mulder looked at Diana. 'You know what Diana? Fuck you!' He pushed her out the way and ran down the hallway into the court yard. _

_He stopped and looked around for scully but didn't see her. He had basketball practice to go to. He would stop by her house later._

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After basketball practice Mulder walked around the side of the building and spotted scully talking to his friends; the lone gunmen, they called themselves. Langley was looking at scully's wrist. What happened? He was about to go and find out but stopped and listened to what they were saying, he slipped back around the corner so they wouldn't see him. When scully left them; Mulder felt his heart break.

Now he sat against the wall; blood running down his arm, but he didn't care yet. He needed to tell scully about what had happened. He felt his heart ache in pain, he had hurt her and now it was hurting him too.

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**Yes I know I wrote the F word… oh well; it was satisfying to write. Let me know what you think, I like reviews. Poor scully. On the plus side we got to meet the cigarette smoking man, rat boy, the lone gunmen. Yeah I know I made ed herse a bad guy… does anyone really object??**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own them (cries loudly); they belong to the master, Chris carter and his little minions at 1013. **

**Summary: Mulder gets some news from his parents that he has to tell scully. Scully returns home after her ordeal, and reveals some information to Melissa. She sits in her sanctuary, and allows Mulder to join her. They talk about what has happened, and think about how they feel.**

**A/note: time for a bit of drama and angst I think! Any objections??? Keep those reviews coming; the more I get, the more hours I spend writing. PS I love the feedback! Your suggestions are helping me heaps! Props to you guys! Oh crap! I just read the last chapter and spotted a bazillion spelling errors!! Stupid spell checker!!**

**PP.S: tashy, the water bill just went up! You now what I'm talking about!! :D enjoy!!**

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Scully made it home before sundown. She stealthily snuck into the back yard; trying not to get spotted by any of her family. There was an old oak tree in the backyard; right next to her window, it was hard to climb; especially with a sore wrist. Scully wriggled her small body into the tree and shuffled carefully along one of the protruding branches to her bedroom window. She stopped and looked at the glaring sun as it began to set; she never could resist sunsets and this time was no exception. She found comfort in sitting high up and watching the world pass by. A sunset always helped after a difficult day; it reminded her that tomorrow was a new day. A fresh start. She watched the sun fall bellow the horizon and closed her eyes; feeling the residual rays rain over her face. Time to get inside.

She crawled into her dark room and went to sit on her bed, which had suddenly risen by about a foot.

"Ah! What the hell!" her bed yelled. Nope, it was Melissa. But still, scully jumped off her sister in surprise.

"Missy? What the hell are you doing on my bed?!"

"Waiting for you to come home! Mum and dad got worried; I had to tell them that you were staying at school to catch up with your teachers and get some lesson summaries." Scully could hear Melissa leave her bed, and carefully tread across the room to find the light switch.

"Missy… I just, I stayed back because I was having a bad day. I had an argument with bill, then I saw Mulder holding Diana's hand in the halls-"

"Found it!" Melissa said, turning on the elusive light switch. The light was blinding compared to the dark room they were previously standing in.

"Ah! Bright lights!" Scully said as she squinted and raised her hand to protect her slowly adjusting eyes. Melissa turned to look at her, but froze. Her eyes widened to resemble saucers, she moved towards scully.

"What the hell happened to your arm?! Dana! What the hell?!" Scully looked at the wrist covering her eyes. Holy crap! It was a deep purple. Now that her attention was back on it; she began to feel it throbbing again.

"Yeah… about that…" scully tried to hide her wrist by shaking her sleeve to cover it. That made it hurt more. She would have to tell Melissa, or she would tell their parents. "I got into a bit of a scuffle with these two senior guys. Nothing happened, they let me go-"

"Let you go?! What were you; their prisoner?" Melissa angrily interrupted. She stood there, hands on hips, staring at her little sister. Scully sniffed; determined not to cry, even if it was Melissa standing in front of her. Melissa sighed, as angry and disappointed as she felt; she wasn't going to make Dana feel worse. "I'll go get a bandage, and then you can tell me what happened. I'll be back in about ten minutes." She left. Scully quickly ducked to her bed and pulled out her journal; she had to get down everything that was going through her head.

She flopped onto her bed and began; thank god it was her left hand that Daniel grabbed, not her right;

'_Crappy doesn't describe today. Not well enough at least. Mulder was standing there, with her; holding hands. Was that what I saw? Were they holding each other; or was she simply holding his hand. Did he betray me? Is that the appropriate word? 'Betray'? Was he loyal to me in the first place? Or is it possible; he betrayed my loyalty to him… _

Scully paused and repositioned her arm, trying to ease the pain. She looked at it and frowned.

'_I lay here, slightly injured; yet all my questions are focussed on him. Why? Those three nerdy friends of his helped me out today. In more way than one; does Mulder really talk about me? Is it true? Can I trust him? Did I see what I saw today? Perhaps these are the questions I should be asking him.'_

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Mulder got home from school just as the sun set, he glanced at it as he opened the front door of his; not so unusually, empty house. He never payed much attention to sunsets; but this one was unusually beautiful. Once it was beyond his vision, he stepped into the large house. His parents weren't home, again. He quickly rid himself of his sweaty shirt and went to the bathroom with only his track suit pants and sneakers on. There you are. 'Damn Mulder, why do you let your emotions get the better of you?' He removed the small first aid kit from the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and set it on the counter. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub; he cleaned and bound his bloody hand. He thought about what had happened, questions soaking his mind. What the hell happened today? First I go socialising with Diana, then I let scully get assaulted whilst I hid and did nothing. Worst part is… when she left, I didn't go after her.

He had to talk to her, explain himself. And tomorrow was too far away.

His hand now firmly bandaged and clean, Mulder packed up and replaced the first aid kit in the medicine cabinet. Need a shirt. He walked to his bedroom, switching lights on as he went. Why can't I be a tidy person, he queried to himself as he entered his messy bedroom. He dug through some piles of clothes until he found his favourite shirt. It was a simple blue short sleeve shirt, but it was comfortable. And clean.

He needed to talk to scully. He wouldn't be able to do anything else until he did; Even if it meant going to her house and facing bill and the rest of her family to do it. They needed to clear the air. Mulder wandered down stairs to the kitchen. He was too agitated to cook himself dinner, but he did feel like a quick snack. He went to the fridge and grabbed small bag of sunflower seeds. He had no idea why he liked them; they just kept his mouth occupied and gave him something to eat. Kind of like a caffeine addiction. Speaking of caffeine, he grabbed a can of coca cola and opened it up.

He closed the fridge and shifted over to the island bench. The house was nice, modern, and unusually clean considering how much time Mulder spent in it by himself. He didn't really bring friends over, not because ne didn't want to; he just didn't have many close friends.

He gulped the last of his coke and threw the can in the bin. Chucking the small bag of sunflower seeds in his pocket, he quickly walked through the dining room towards the front door. That was, until he spotted a note on the table. He saw his father's neat writing and picked up the note. He read it;

"Dammit!" he yelled angrily, throwing the paper on the table and jogging to the door.

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Melissa let herself back into scully's room. She had a bandage in one hand and an apple in the other. Scully closed her diary and put it behind her. If she put it away, Melissa would know where she kept it, and she definitely did not want her sister reading her diary. Melissa sat down next to her on the bed and gave scully the apple.

"I'm guessing you haven't eaten since you got home?" scully shook her head and bit into the apple with her right hand as Melissa took her left.

"Wanna tell me what's up?" Scully stared at her sister. Might as well;

"I saw Mulder and Diana holding hands in the hall. I don't know what they were talking about, but it still…"

"I know." Melissa said as she began carefully wrapping scully's wrist.

"Then I had a run in with these two guys on my way home. I think they were seniors."

"Who were they?" Melissa said bitterly. Scully knew Melissa had a protective streak in her too. She was after all, a Scully. A fighter. A rock. Dana Scully was more stubborn though.

"I don't know. Anyway these three guys helped me out. They were some of mulder's friends. They said some weird stuff…" she trailed off.

"Such as?" she was almost finished; she held the end of the material whilst she grabbed the little clip that held the bandage in place.

"Apparently, Mulder's been talking about me to them. Quite a lot actually." Melissa patted her arm and smiled.

"All done." She looked away to hide her bemusement.

Scully wasn't going to ask why. She was a little amused herself. But only a little. If missy wasn't going to ask, she certainly wasn't going to tell. "Thanks missy. I'm gonna go outside for a while."

Melissa pointed to the ceiling. Scully nodded.

"Be careful Dana. I don't know why you like sitting up there, but promise me you'll be careful with your arm." He said, gathering her things and walking out of the room. She paused at the door;

"I promise, hey missy…" Melissa raised her eyebrows at her. "Thank you."

Melissa smiled and silently left the room. Scully waited a few moments, she snatched her journal and tossed it under her bed.

She grabbed her jacket and opened her window. She bit into her half eaten apple and clamped her jaws on it tightly. The moon was out now, not full yet, but large enough to allow her to see the branch in front of her. Carefully, she climbed out onto the tree. Slowly she made her way higher into the tree, and jumped from a large branch down onto the rooftop. She knew it was dangerous; but it was her sanctuary, she felt at peace up on the roofs of the houses she had lived in. It was comforting to know that no matter where she moved to, the rooftop was her place. She settled herself near the edge; so she could watch the world go by and still see the stars above her. The lights of the town were amazing to look at. But the best part was the stars; no matter how horrible her day had been, no matter how overwhelmed she felt; looking at the distant stars seemed to give a lot of perspective. The dramas and problems of this world were so insignificant compared to the vastness of the universe. It was quite humbling, in a way.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a shadowy figure creep onto the back lawn.

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Damn. Her bedroom light is off. She's probably in the lounge or having dinner. Now what am I gonna do? Mulder stood in scully's back yard, looking up at her window. 'Maybe she's asleep? Should I start throwing pebbles at her window? Isn't that a romantic gest-'

Something hit the top of his head "ow!" He groaned, rubbing the top of his head. He spotted the unidentified flying object on the grass, bathed in moonlight. He picked it up; "an apple core?" he whispered.

"Mulder?" A voice whispered from an unknown location. He looked around, worried it was anyone but scully. Finally he looked up. The silhouette of a small person was perched on the edge of the roof.

"Scully? What are you doing up there, that dangerous you know? How did you get up there, anyway?"

"The tree." She pointed to the old tree. Mulder went to go climb it. He hesitated and looked back at scully.

"Do you mind if I came up there with you?" He asked in earnest. After today he felt she deserved some respect.

"Yeah, just be careful." She whispered.

'Amazing', Mulder thought as he steadily ascended the tree. 'She has an injury and is probably pissed off at me. This is understandable. But she is telling me to be careful. If I were her, I wouldn't have stopped at an apple core.' He was once again, amazed by this girl.

Finally he found the roof; and looked at it, trying to find the safest way to get onto it without falling and killing himself. He was met, by scully. She stood near the branch, her right hand outstretched towards him; offering him her help. He took her small, soft hand in his own uncovered left hand and jumped down onto the roof. He regained his balance, but scully didn't let him go. She led him to the top edge of the roof and finally let go of his hand when he sat down next too her.

He sat facing her, taking in her moonlit features. She was absolutely adorable in this light. Hell, she was adorable in any light. But he saw her, really saw her as she sat facing him. He had to speak;

"Hi." He murmured. Oh yeah, real smooth Mulder! He thought.

"Hi… we need to talk Mulder." she sighed. She looked sad. Mulder felt a severe wave of guilt wash over him.

"Scully, what you saw with me and Diana today… it wasn't what you think. She was trying to win me over. She'll do that to people. She targets one person and cuddles up to their friends. It's sick and twisted, but that's how she operates."

Scully looked down at her hands. She subconsciously tried to cover her bound wrist. Her hair fell forwards and masked her face.

Mulder reached out and took both her hands in his. "I know what happened today. I saw what happened with those guys. Scully I'm sorry. I was just afraid that I would make things worse if I did anything." He rubbed his thumb along her wrist.

"So I'm guessing you heard some things I said…" she whispered.

Yeah, I did. Scully; please, tell me. What did you do for me? Why can't you tell me?"

She looked up at his. She was afraid to tell him, but if she looked him in the eye; maybe he wouldn't be able to see for fear.

"Diana said she would start that rumour about Melissa if I didn't leave you alone… I was so, angry, that she dared to threaten my family and that… she looked down at her hands resting in his. She finally spotted the bandage. She grabbed his hand and brought it up to her face, trying to see well. "Mulder, what did you do?"

Mulder searched her eyes. He had to know the truth. He couldn't continue until he knew. "Scully, I'll tell you if you finish your sentence."

Scully caressed his injured hand and took a large breath. "I was angry because of the way she treats you. I don't like seeing the people I care about being abused like that" she hoped he didn't misinterpret her meaning. But to what extent did she care about him?

He simply nodded understandingly. "When I realised that you saw Diana talking to me in the hall, I got angry. Not at you; but at myself. You were upset, and I had caused it, so I took it out on the cement. It's not the first time. I have scars from when Samantha disappeared… I was so self destructive; I have heaps of scar to prove it."

Scully felt so sad for Mulder. He was so used to suffering, he brushed off physical pain. She closed her hands around his and placed a small kiss on his knuckles. "Mulder, I'd like to think I'm your best friend… I'm here for you, if you need me."

"You are my best friend. You're the only person I really trust to listen to me. The only person who's opinion really matters to me. Scully, you _are_ my best friend…come here." He pulled here into a warm embrace. He didn't want to spoil the moment, but he had to tell her what was going to happen at the end of the next week. The school term was ending; with a two week break in the middle. He didn't want to tell her, but now was not the time to be dishonest. He pulled away from her, still holding her hands in his;

"Scully... um, these holidays, I will be going away with my family. My dad's work is taking him to the other side of the country; I have relatives down there. So… I'll be away for two weeks."

Scully's face grew quickly sad. She shuddered a sigh; "I know we were planning to hang out over the holidays, but if you have to go, you have to go. I'll just have to hang around with Missy this time. We can still talk over the phone and send e-mails… I'm sure we'll live." She gave him a small smile.

Mulder smiled back. "I guess… so why do you sit up here?" Time to change the subject, Mulder figured.

Scully turned away from Mulder so her legs rested along the incline of the roof. Her injured left hand held onto his bound right one. He turned to sit next to her. Very closely next to her so his leg rested against hers. As intimate as they were behaving towards each other, they didn't feel at all uncomfortable. They were close friends; best friends. "I find it nice up here, it's peaceful, quiet, and it's my way of shutting out the world." She looked upwards.

Mulder also looked up. She was sharing her hiding place with him. He deserved to be yelled at for his behaviour; but there she was, holding him close to her, reassuring him. As close as they seemed, Mulder felt as though he had only just scratched the surface. Maybe, just maybe; he adjusted the hand that held hers, and entwined his aching fingers with hers. He looked at her. She didn't look back, but she smiled angelically towards the heavens.

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**Hit the review button! Please!!!**

**What will scully do to occupy her time over the holidays? Has their relationship changed? How does Mulder feel about being separated from scully over the upcoming two weeks? How do they think of each other after tonight's events? **

**The more times you guys give me feedback the more I need to write. Come on guys, it only takes a minute! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own them!!! **

**Summary: a chapter written in email and text message form. All of Mulder and scully's communications whilst Mulder is in Oregon visiting his relatives. Also goes into what the characters are thinking. This one's told from Mulder's point of view.**

**A/note: time to modernise a little. I now realise emails weren't around in the seventies, so we are going to pretend that the story is set in the nineties…. Also so Mulder and scully can get those famous cell phones!! PS. Mulder's family is pretty wealthy. Not crazy rich, but really well off. **

**Thanks for the reviews guys!!**

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On the last day of the school term; Mulder had left a present for scully in her locker. Seeing her at her locker all the time gave him the chance to work out her combination. He left on the Saturday morning and wasn't coming back till the Saturday afternoon before school started again. Two weeks without scully and limited communication actually annoyed them both. So Mulder dipped his fingers into his bank account; one that he didn't often use, and had slowly been filling up. He went out Friday morning before school and bought two cell phones; identical, except his was black and the other was silver. He also bought 50 dollars credit for both. He left the silver one in scully's locker, and his phone number.

Scully didn't see Mulder Friday afternoon, so when she found a cell phone planted in her locker; she knew who it was from. She punched in the number left for her and saved it in the contacts list. It beeped at her. She had a text message from Mulder;

' _like ur present? Theres cred on urs + mine. Plz reply. M'_

She smiled and closed her locker and started walking down the hall. Thank god for peripheral vision, or she would have gotten knocked over. She replied;

'_yep. How did u afford dis? U didn't hav 2. :) S'_

'_:D my gift 2 u. we can stay in tuch wen im away. I leve 2moro. M'_

'_im gonna miss u. :( wer r u? S'_

'_ home. Gotta pak. U wont get in truble? M'_

' _no. ill talk 2 u wen u get ther? S'_

'_yeh. Ill miss u 2 scully.' M'_

'_c ya :) S'_

'_c ya ;) M'_

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Scully hid her phone under her bed next to her journal. She loved it; she and Mulder could talk when ever they wanted. She wasn't curious about the gesture at all. She was glad he had gone to such an effort to keep her within arms length.

Computers weren't foreign territory for scully. It didn't take her long to set up her dad's old computer in her room and hook it up to the internet. She even went as far as to ask the lone gunmen to tell her how to make the computer alert her when she got a new email. They agreed but didn't tell her; that they had already done the same thing to Mulder's laptop. He asked them to set up his emails on the last day of school.

Mulder arrived in Oregon Saturday night. Once he and his parents got to their relatives place; the first thing Mulder did before he unpacked was set the laptop up on the desk in the guest room he was staying in. He promised to talk to scully when he arrived; and he had every intention of keeping that promise;

'_hey scully,_

_We just got here. The flight was boring and we had to watch a really boring movie, I think it was called "return to me" or something like that. How are you?? How was your first day of holiday? Had to be better than mine…_

_:) Mulder'_

Scully; who had left her computer switched on all day, waiting to hear from Mulder, quickly replied.

'_hi Mulder,_

_I'm good. Went to the mall with missy. Met some people, you know how it goes. I love the holidays! No homework! But I reckon I'm gonna get bored after a few days. How are you doing? Aren't you tired?_

_Scully'_

Mulder quickly left his unpacking and ran back to his computer. 'yes! She's online!' he thought excitedly.

_S,_

_Hope you had fun at the mall. I'm a bit tired. I still wanted to say hi though._

_M'_

He sat waiting impatiently in front of the stationary laptop. It felt like an eternity, but she replied;

_M,_

_That's sweet of you. :D-- (that means, hug for you) you better get some sleep. I'm gonna be out and about tomorrow, but I'll talk to you in the afternoon okay. Have fun and don't be too silly. _

_Nighty night Mulder_

_S'_

Mulder smiled and read her words twice. She was fantastic and caring. He loved being her best friend.

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Mulder came home late from dinner the next night, he checked his phone. Nothing. He turned on his laptop and felt glad to see an email from scully. He impatiently opened and read it;

'_Hey Mulder,_

_How are you? I'm good. Took Charlie to the park and met this guy named Ethan. We chatted for a while, I liked him. He seemed pretty nice. Bill is going to spend the holidays with my uncle in Baltimore (Yay!) and missy spent the day at the mall, again. It's nice to hang around with dad, he is taking time off to spend some time with us kids; but he's been mostly with me and Charlie._

_Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed. I'm taking Charlie to the park again tomorrow, he loves that place._

_Sleep tight Mulder_

_:) Scully.'_

Mulder's eyes glazed over slightly at the part about Ethan. He knew a guy named Ethan Jackson at their school; he was a footballer and hung around Diana and her friends. No. it probably wasn't the same guy. He felt a bit depressed though. It should be him spending his days with scully, taking her and Charlie to the park. Bill wasn't even there so it would have been safe to go to her house. He sadly shut down the computer and went to bed. Unanswered questions plagued his mind; what if it was Ethan Jackson? What if Diana was up to her old tricks again? He knew Ethan Jackson had a history with girls. He was very possessive and controlling of his girlfriends; but because he was so popular, no girl dared question him.

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As much as Mulder hated it, his relatives were taking him everywhere. Showing him everything within a 100 mile radius of where he was staying; meaning he was coming home late every night. He had begun counting days on the first Monday; that was day 1. By day 5, Friday; Mulder was getting horribly agitated by scully's growing friendship with this guy Ethan. God forbid, Mulder was almost jealous. He knew he had no right to be. But he just couldn't shake the sadness that he felt when he read through some of the emails she had sent him. He ran through all the comments she wrote about Ethan, trying to understand how she felt about this guy;

'_He is really funny! I swear you'd like him!'_

'_Ethan is really caring, he likes to go with me every where. Today we hung out together. It was so fun!'_

'_I think Ethan likes me, Mulder. I don't know how guys work; but I think he likes me.'_

Mulder felt a little neglected and rejected. He shook off the feeling. 'You can't expect her to sit around and do nothing. She's entitled to have other friends than you. If he cares about her and she likes him, he must be a worthy guy.' So why didn't he believe himself? He wasn't sure if it was Ethan Jackson… but if it was... 'No! If scully chooses him, he must be treating her right. She's not your girlfriend Mulder. She's just your best friend.'

Mulder considered that final thought. Was he feeling this way because he liked scully as more than his best friend? He stopped himself before he got carried away. He slowly fell asleep in his bed.

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By day 7, Mulder's curiosity had hit boiling point. It was seven in the morning; he was still in bed, but he searched under his bed and he picked up his phone and sent scully a text message;

'_hey scully'_

As luck would have it; she instantly replied;

'_Hi Mulder, wots up?'_

_Just wonderin… wots Ethan's last name?'_

'_jackson, y?'_

"Dammit!" Mulder hissed angrily. He calmed himself; he had to be supportive and pretend to be uninterested, for now at least.

'_no reason. Wot u doin 2day?'_

'_me + Ethan r gonna hang out. U?_

Mulder was fuming without reason. He wanted to tell her not to hang out with an asshole like Ethan. But she had proved in the past that she could handle herself. Mulder was tempted to make up a story about some girl he had met and begun dating; just to spite her. No, he couldn't say that.

'_Nuthin much. Hav fun scully :) bye'_

He switched off the phone and threw it under his bed. He flopped back against his pillow and sighed. Damn, it was Ethan Jackson. He hoped and prayed that Ethan wouldn't make scully his next girlfriend before he got back home. But if he did ask scully out… what was Mulder going to do about it? All he could do was trust scully to make the wisest decision; she was smart. She would know if Ethan mistreated her.

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Mulder still talked to scully everyday via email or text message, and he cherished every second of it. By Friday afternoon, or day 12 by mulder's count; Mulder's cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID. It was scully;

"Hey scully."

"Hi Mulder! Guess what?" She was excited.

"You were abducted?" Mulder asked playfully.

"No… not that good. Ethan asked me out! Told you he liked me." She shrieked into the phone. Mulder's shoulder's slumped against his will. He put one hand on his hip and stared at his feet.

"What did you say?"

"I haven't given him my answer yet." Mulder instantly lifted his head and smiled.

"Why? Don't you know it's a bad sign when the girl says 'I'll think about?'"

"I wanted to tell you about it first." She shyly squeaked. All resentment Mulder had been building over the last two weeks flowed out of him.

"Well scully, if you like the guy; he must be worthy of you."

Scully let a sigh of relief out of her. She didn't know why she had decided to call Mulder first, but she knew he had the right to know. Truth was; her attachment to Ethan, well, it wasn't that strong. He was attentive, caring, and respectful and he was… okay. The strength of her feelings towards Ethan was nothing compared to her bond with Mulder. The only thing different was that Ethan liked her in a romantic way. Mulder was her best friend. She was fairly sure he wasn't harbouring any of those kinds of feelings towards her. Although, she wasn't that sure she didn't secretly feel some form of attraction towards him.

"Thanks Mulder…" she hesitated. "Now hurry up and come home I can see you again!" she laughed. It was time to make them both feel better. Why did they feel depressed though? She just scored a boyfriend. Her first real boyfriend to be exact. Why wasn't she over the moon?

"I'll be back tomorrow night. I'll text you when I get off the plane. Now call Ethan and make him the most privileged guy in the world. Night scully."

"Night Mulder"

They hung up. Mulder sat down on the couch. He felt oddly depressed. But still, she deserved to have someone care about her like that. He spoke in earnest to her; Ethan was going to be the most privileged guy in the world. Mulder prayed for scully's sake that Ethan would quickly understand that before he hurt her with his controlling nature.

Mulder also couldn't help thinking that Ethan wasn't the right guy for her. Scully needed someone to listen to her; someone who would make her feel special, which would walk her to and from school, someone she could trust entirely. Scully needed someone like him. Mulder would care about her and treat her right. Why? Because he realised he liked her more than as a friend… that he loved her as more than a friend.

But the problem was, he cared about her too much to tell her.

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**Poor Mulder! Next chapter, he comes back to scully and they start the new school term. It will be from scully's point of view. As she slowly begins to comprehend what Ethan is really like. Who will she turn to? And how will he react?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just write more stories for them to live in. :(**

**Summary: scully learns a few things from Melissa and finally wakes up to Ethan's jealous nature (finally! Yay!), she makes a tough decision and Mulder wonders what her motivation was for making it. **

**A/note: I aint that proud of the last chapter. So I'm gonna make it up to you guys; I got inspired by this storyline from another story I read. Some thing emotional, maybe a little sad, but I want to give Mulder a chance to make some discoveries. I am a shipper, through and through. No way is Mulder letting scully get away, but I wanna know how far he will let himself go.**

**PS: A question was asked in a review, so I'm gonna answer it: 1 in 4 (Australians at least) will go through depression at some point in their teenage years. Mulder lost his sister when he was twelve and has to deal with his parents never being home. I'm ****not**** going to make him suicidal or anything; but I want to show how these events have affected him mentally. He is not practicing self harm; but when he gets really angry, he might punch things. (Not people, I'll give him a punching bag from now on.) I am **_**definitely**__**not**_** a supporter of self mutilation or harm. I just know some (silly) people do it.**

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Scully sat on the roof of her house, her cell phone in her hands; waiting to hear from Mulder when he got back from origan. She had agreed to be Ethan's girlfriend, but she had a funny feeling about his behaviour. He called her every night to ask about her day. At first it was sweet but it was starting to feel like an interrogation. Scully brushed it off and assumed he was just being attentive. Her wrist had healed; amazingly she had kept it well hidden from everyone else. She checked her cell. Nothing. 'Come on Mulder, it's getting late. Please call…' as the thought entered her head, her phone chirped;

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey scully, it's me." _Scully didn't have to guess. It was Mulder; and she smiled at hearing his voice again.

"_How was the flight?"_

"_Good. I slept most of the way. I can't wait for Monday, actually; what are you doing tomorrow?"_

Scully hesitated. She really wanted to see Mulder, but Ethan had insisted she spent the day with him. She took a deep breath and stared at the crescent moon;

"_I, um… Ethan wanted me to hang out with him tomorrow. I would like to see you though. Would you like to come with us?"_

Mulder would have loved to. On one hand; he would get to actually see scully, but on the hand; he would have to see Ethan. He weighed his options.

"_Nah, I've got a few things to do tomorrow. Go spend the day with your boyfriend. I don't want to be a third wheel." _Mulder's heart tightened. At least if scully spent the day with Ethan; she might see what kind of an ass he was. He wanted to tell her she was a fool for accepting his request; but Mulder trusted her judgement and didn't want to hurt her.

"_Okay… I guess I'll see you on Monday then. I can't wait for Monday either. We can hang out at school, I'm not going to spend lunch with Ethan cos he; well, he kinda hangs around Diana and her mob."_

"_I'll always be there for you scully; we are still best friends. I'll see you Monday."_

"_Mulder, you are my dearest friend. See ya Monday. Night."_

"_Night scully."_

They hung up and scully felt guilty. Mulder didn't deserve to be her part time friend when she wasn't around Ethan. 'I'll always be there for you scully' his world rang in her head. He was so wonderful, looking after her the way he did. She never allowed herself to rely on anyone emotionally, but Mulder was offering his support to her if she ever needed it. He was absolutely fantastic.

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Mulder and scully sat in the cafeteria on Monday afternoon. She would never admit it, but being able to jump into his welcoming arms and give him warm hug; was the best part of her day. It felt like normal, they talked, laughed, swapped food and enjoyed each other's company. However, today they were interrupted by a random girl who asked to sit with them. She was the same age, had brown hair and dark eyes. They let her join them; she sat next to Mulder. She began to thank them when Ethan came over to their table and sat next to scully. Mulder didn't want to have anything to do with scully's boyfriend, so to distract himself; he struck up a conversation with the girl next to him;

"Hi, I'm fox Mulder, but you can call me Mulder." He threw all his attention to her, so he would have to look at scully, with Ethan.

"Nice to meet you Mulder, I'm Monica Reyes. I think I've heard of you."

"Probably have." Mulder mumbled.

"Nothing bad, my boyfriend plays basketball with you."

"Who's your boyfriend?"

"John Doggett; he reckons you're a pretty good shot."

Mulder couldn't help feel slightly flattered. He knew john, he was pretty talented too. Her friendly comment made it easier to avoid looking at scully. Ethan was holding one of her hands and whispering in her ear. It was a sickening sight; for Mulder at least.

"I know john. He's got good game; he knows his tactics and makes easy plays for us."

Monica smiled and started eating her lunch. Hmm… not much of a talker. Damn. Mulder occupied his mind on his hamburger, not willing to look up. He couldn't help eavesdropping on the conversation in front of him.

"Ethan, I'm fine. We can hang out later. You know I don't get along with your friends; besides, I have Mulder here and I'm happy where I am."

'Ha ha. You got rejected.' Mulder happily thought as took a sip of his soda. He could feel the dirty look Ethan was giving him. 'Go on, I dare you to push her. Scully will so drop you for being a possessive jerk.' He thought as he finally looked up at scully. Bad timing.

"Okay then… have fun." Ethan said as he planted a cute kiss on her cheek. Scully blushed and forced… forced? Yeah, that smile was definitely forced. He kissed scully. Mulder appetite just jumped off a building.

Crap.

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The weeks progressed and Mulder was getting less talkative. She still spent every lunch time with him and sat next to him in the classes they shared, but he was… distant. She had begun to notice that Ethan was getting a bit controlling. He always wanted to know where she was, who she was with, what she was doing. She hadn't let him actually kiss her properly and his frustration was beginning to show. She just didn't feel right about it. It felt… wrong. The weirder part was that she didn't feel any guilt when she pushed him away, she actually felt better.

She and Mulder had become good friends with Monica and John. Scully and Monica quickly became friends, as did Mulder and john; they talked about basketball a lot; and scully noticed he was happier when he talked to John than to her. The four of them occupied the same cafeteria table and it allowed for more diverse conversation. After her fourth week as Ethan girlfriend; scully found herself approached by Melissa one evening.

"Hey missy, what's up?" She sat up on the couch to make room for her dear sister.

"I need to talk to you about Mulder and Ethan." Melissa wouldn't tell scully; but she always watched her and Mulder during lunch. She liked Mulder; he was respectful to Dana and always looked out for her. So naturally, she got concerned when Mulder started looked disheartened around scully. She wasn't an idiot, Mulder liked scully; but because she was with Ethan, she was blind to mulder's feelings. She also knew of Ethan reputation;

"Dana, I'm a bit worried about the way Ethan treats you. He's controlling you and that's affecting Mulder."

Scully knew missy was right. Ethan's nature was getting a bit out of hand, but how did that effect Mulder? "I know, he is pretty dominant. It pisses me off heaps… but what does that have to Mulder?"

Haven't you seen the way he is around you now that you're with Ethan? Can't you see how he's feeling?"

"No... I mean, yeah he has been a little less chatty. But I can't help that, can I?"

Okay, time to switch tactics. There was no way missy was going to convince scully that Mulder really liked her more than a best friend should. She would only be able to work that out herself. But a little convincing wouldn't hurt;

"You know Diana has started hitting on him again? He keeps pushing her away though; he doesn't want anything to do with her. Have you noticed he's losing weight and gaining muscle in his arms? Do you wanna know why? Cos he told me he spends hours beating the crap out of his punching bag. That's why."

Scully considered this. Why hadn't Mulder said anything? "No I didn't." She muttered.

"But enough about Mulder… let's get back to Ethan. Dana, he is a senior and is a jerk. I don't want you to be another name on his 'done her' list. He's gonna use you then lose you. We both know you deserve better than him." Dana often listened to her. Missy had had a few boyfriends and Dana trusted her judgement in these situations.

Scully sat in silence and took in her words. Dammit, missy was right.

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It was lunch time, in the cafeteria, on Thursday afternoon of week 5. John and Monica were at the student services office. Today was the day scully decided to break up with Ethan. She knew he was a jealous bastard. He had started following her everywhere, he even got angry when she wanted some alone time. The most annoying part was that he was jealous of her friendship with Mulder. Scully's was too proud to let anybody else control her life, it was her life and she could do whatever the hell she liked with it. She sat across from Mulder in silence and waited for Ethan to come and check up on her; as he always did.

After what missy had said; she couldn't not notice that Mulder was acting differently. He always listened to her speak, but he rarely laughed or smiled. He looked almost sad, not depressed, but pretty miserable. She now noticed his knuckles were sometime a little swollen and he had bulked up a bit. God, If only she knew.

Ethan arrived; okay here we go. She turned to him;

"Ethan; we need to talk. There's something I need to do that I should have done a while ago."

"Do we need to talk about this in private?" He replied cautiously as he gestured to Mulder with his head. Mulder was playing with his fries; trying once again to ignore them.

"No, it's okay if Mulder hears this." She saw Mulder lift his eyes towards them, but didn't move his head. He went back to staring at his left over lunch. She felt he needed him to hear this. She took a big breath; "I think we should break up. This isn't working out for me Ethan." She said in the most sympathetic voice she could muster. Truth was; it was quite relieving.

Mulder snapped his head to look up the scene before him. He was _very _interested in this conversation.

"What?! What do you mean this is working out for you?!" His voice was raised, it drew some attention.

"I mean… I'm sick of you controlling me! I hate how you get jealous of Mulder! I hate how you call me at night to check up on me! Ethan I'm telling you now! It is totally over between us!" She yelled right back. If anyone wasn't watching before; they were now.

Mulder sat frozen in his chair. He was both shocked at the fact she wanted him to hear this, and silently jumping for join that he had his scully back. Ethan stood up and towered over scully. She stood up and challenged him right back.

"The only reason I checked up was because I was stupid to enough to give a damn about you! And I have every right to be annoyed that you want to spend more time with him than your own boyfriend!"

That pushed a button; "yeah right! Don't you wonder why I prefer hanging around with Mulder? Because he doesn't walk around treating me like his property, he actually shows me some respect!"

Mulder couldn't believe this. Ethan was jealous of him? Scully was defending him, even though he hadn't been talking to as much lately. 'Please, please break up and let me hug you…' he thought.

"You know what? Maybe you and him belong together! Yeah, I can see it now; spooky Mulder and his little girlfriend the frigid ice queen. I wonder what the fuck it was I saw in you in the first place." He turned to leave her; but she called back to him, he turned;

"Hey Ethan, I asked myself that about you, the first day school went back." She replied coolly, folding her arms across her chest. She was hurting, but she had to get the last dig in. Ethan gave her the finger and continued to push his way through the silent crowd that had watched them.

"Oh… my… freaking…. God' Mulder thought as he stared wide eyed at scully. Did she just break up with Ethan because of him? He certainly hoped so. But right now, though she didn't show it; she was probably hurting inside. Mulder on the other hand was trying not to dance across the tables. Scully turned to look at him;

"Mulder, can we get out of here?" She whispered. Holy crap! Was she crying? He nodded and grabbed his stuff.

They walked to the doors that led out the cafeteria. Everyone watched them leave, as they approached the doors Monica and john walked in. They stopped and looked at the situation in front of them. They saw scully's tear's; mulder's small, amused smile and the captivated audience they left in their wake. Monica frowned;

"What the hell did we miss?"

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**Yes? No? Legendary? Crappy? Let me know what you guys think. I live on reviews. :D**

**Lets play a game, (I'm bored); name the episode this quote came from, bet you can't ;) : **

**MULDER:** Dana. After all you've seen, after all the evidence, why can't you believe?

**Chuck it in a review or send me a PM. Bet you won't get it first time round (probably will though)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I wish I had a time machine, but I don't because Mulder stole it from me. So I don't own anything. **

**Summary: so many close encounters in this one! I couldn't stop myself!! And Mulder asks scully a very important question ;D**

**Spoilers: there some obvious ones and some for those who know the episodes well… then there are some for obsessed X philers like me. **

**A/note: wow! All these reviews are making me dance like a mad woman! Yay!! Oh yeah, if you guessed the quote at the end of the last chapter was from 'beyond the sea'; you were right. (Claps for you) this chapter is for tashy; for making me fall off the couch from giggling, tashy, can you spot some personal references?? Thank you all for all the positive reviews!! I love getting your suggestions; I try to incorporate bits of your ideas were I can. And now on with the show!!**

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Mulder and scully sat in the gymnasium with the remainder of their lunches. They ate in relative silence, and though the silence was comfortable; it was not welcome.

"I'm proud of you." Mulder said through his hamburger.

"He was a jerk Mulder." she sighed, opening her can of soda.

"Yeah, well… I'll be nice and supportive and agree with you there. But hey; I got you back now." He smiled at her.

"I never left you, Mulder. I was there the whole time." She asked confusedly.

"Doesn't mean I didn't miss you." She blushed at him. She offered him some of her soda, which he accepted. She found the napkin in the bottom of her bag and wiped her hands. Mulder handed back her drink; which was a lot emptier than it was before. She took another sip as he ate the last of his hamburger. A little bit of ketchup sat on the corner of his lip.

Scully giggled. "Come here;" she beckoned him closer and wiped away the ketchup. "You're a grub, you know that?"

He simply stared at her. She met his gaze with equal intensity; and it was electrifying. They couldn't stop looking, it was like they had seen an unknown creature, and were afraid to look away. Whether it was him or her, they leaned inwards slightly; only a centimetre or two, but enough to notice. They blinked and…

The lunch bell rang. Goddammit.

They both looked away. "I'll see you after?" Mulder said awkwardly, as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He was already at the base of the bleachers. Scully finished packing her things into her own bag; "yeah, did you want to come over to my house?"

She stood one the lowest bench making her stand high enough above Mulder that he had to tilt his head up. "Um... Well, my parents aren't home; so did you want to perhaps come over to my house. I kinda don't want to have a run in with your brother." He held out his hand to her.

She took it, savouring the feel of her hand resting in the warmth of his. "I'd love to." He helped her down the last bench and released her hand. She felt the loss of contact quickly, but was content when he placed that hand on the lower of her back and led her through the gym doors. For the first time in over a month, Mulder felt a little joy return.

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Thank god scully caught Melissa before she left school, she told Melissa to let her mum knows she was going to Mulder's place. Something told her that no one would mind; except bill.

She and Mulder walked down his street, laughing like maniacs as they once did. Scully felt as though she had met him all over again. She also admired his more athletic physique; not that he wasn't unattractive before, but now he was just more… yummy.

They walked up the driveway and scully stopped to take in the grandeur of the large house. The grass was thick and green, with a sandy stone path that ran up to the front door. The gardens were beautiful, and there was a tall, old looking maple tree. The house was two stories, white with large rectangular windows. It looked both modern and simplistic.

She approached the maple tree. It had some initials scratched into the bark. One was 'FM' and about a foot below it was 'SM'. Mulder came and stood close behind her. She reached up and traced his initials with her index finger. "We carved this about a year before she was taken; she loved this tree. She would spend all her time under it." He said into her ear.

"Did you love this tree too?" Scully whispered. Mulder reached around her and placed his hand over hers, following it as she rested it over the M.

"Yes I do." His hand lingered on hers. A shiver ran down her spine, Mulder pulled back and began walking to the front door with his keys in his other hand. Scully turned and watched him; she saw him clench and flex the hand that had been on hers. He turned back to her; "come on in."

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Mulder threw his schoolbag in the lounge room, before proceeding to the kitchen. Scully stood in the foyer, mesmerized by the sheer size of the rooms. She threw her bag next to his and slowly wondered into the kitchen, she hopped up and sat on a bench.

"This is a nice house, Mulder. It's absolutely massive." He popped his head up from behind the fridge door, a can of coke in his hands. She nodded and he threw it to her.

"Wait till you see the rest of it. My favourite is the basement. My parents don't use it, so I made it my room." He closed the fridge, a bottle of ice tea in his hand. He wandered over to were scully was sitting on the counter top. He stood in front of her, "you wanna see my room?" He waggled his eyebrows. She rolled hers in return.

"Okay then." She took another sip and then coughed. She looked into her can, then hopped off the counter and stood directly under the light. "Hey Mulder, check this out. I think there's a bee in my soda?" He frowned and stood in front of her. He looked down into the can. Amazingly, there it was; a dead bee floating in the can. Scully looked up at him, quickly noticing the close proximity of his face to hers.

"Spooky, huh?" He suggested.

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Mulder led her upstairs to his bedroom. It was filled with the usual; sports posters, magazines, CD's, his laptop sat on a desk in one corner, next to a small TV set. His bed was on the other side of the room. The room had a walk in wardrobe and an en suite bathroom. Mulder walked into his closet, scully went and sat at his desk. "What's the backyard like?"

Mulder walked back into the room with a spare shirt in his hands. Scully span her chair to face away from him… reluctantly. "oh, you know. the standard back yard stuff; deck, pool, grass, trees, porch, garden and a san…" he trailed off. Scully spun back around to find him standing shirtless, staring out his window. He didn't shift his gaze but he knew she was looking. "A sand box Samantha used to play in."

Oh. Scully saw the pain in his expression he wore. He turned to her and rubbed one of his biceps. She sensed his insecurity, she crossed the room and opened her arms; "you want a hug?" He shook his head. Scully wasn't giving up that easily. "Can I have one anyway?" He looked up and chuckled. He nodded and let her walk into his awaiting arms.

It suddenly occurred to scully that she was cuddling up to a half naked Mulder in his bedroom, in his empty house. Did it just get warm in here? Then the unthinkable; or at least highly improbable happened,

Mulder pressed a small kiss to the crown of her head. No wonder he wasn't wearing a shirt! It's boiling in here! He pulled away from her; "thanks scully, I guess I did need that." he (finally) put his clean black shirt on. "Come on, there heaps more to see." And with that he headed out the door.

Scully's head was still in transit. 'Whoa… that was random!' she thought. But was it an unwanted gesture? No, she enjoyed the sensation of his arms around her. Her mind ran through the encounters they had had; him carrying her down the hall, sitting on the roof holding hands. Then she recounted today's events; the near miss kiss, him holding her hand on the bleachers, his hand caressing hers near the maple tree, the look in his eyes in the kitchen and now this…

"He likes me." She whispered to herself. "You coming? You ain't gonna run away from me, are ya?" He called from downstairs. She shook her head and walked out of his room to the out on the landing. She leant over the railings and saw him standing on the bottom floor, hands in his pockets, looking up at her. She smiled warmly;

"Never…"

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Scully sat on the roof of her house, once again contemplating the meaning of everything that had happened in her life up till now. But here she sat, thinking only of Mulder. She wrote in her journal, using a small torch clipped to her shirt to see.

'_I might have misinterpreted some things. Maybe we allow our selves into each other personal space because we are such close friends. Well, that explains the proximity issue. But other thing I can't explain… there has to be a logical reason. Maybe I neglected him more than I realise, and he was just happy to have me back. God, being in his room when he kissed my head; I was so vulnerable right then. He backed away, why? He had me, he didn't push the limit. God he's cryptic! My stomach flutters when he looks at me… I can't let him make me vulnerable._

_Do I care about him? Yes, I do. He is loyal, respectful, sweet and totally my equal. God! I am denying myself the chance to indulge in an actual caring relationship. But I can't, Ethan used me, not physically, but in every other way. Even if it is Mulder, I still need to keep my guard up. _

_Why do I keep filling up the pages of my journal with mindless, endless rambling about Mulder?!'_

She had always kept up an emotional wall to protect her from the outside world. It would take a very patient man with a very fine chisel to break down that wall. God, please, let Mulder be that man.

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A week had past since scully went to Mulder's house. He loved having her wandering around his place in jeans and a singlet top, it made his empty mansion feel like a wonderful home. He wanted to ask her out. He wanted to spend the evening with her. Today… he would ask her to join him for dinner at his place.

They sat in biology, subconsciously leaning towards each other. He nudged her with his elbow, she looked at him, her face was so close to his; he gulped.

"Scully… um, I was wondering…" he stuttered. He was so nervous; a fleet of butterflies had begun to stir in his gut. Scully leaned closer and whispered;

"Mulder, what's the matter?" She questioned cheekily. Not helping scully!

Mulder took a deep breath; the scent of her perfume intoxicated him. "Dana… would you like to have dinner at my place tonight?" He whispered to her.

"Are you asking me out on a date Mulder?" She was stalling whilst she thought about it and she knew it.

Mulder didn't reply, he let their silence do the talking. They sat there staring; him, daring her to say yes; she, daring the same answer of him. They were interrupted by a distinct cough. They looked up at the teacher; to find him, and the rest of class watching them. They both blushed from embarrassment.

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When the day finished, they walked to there lockers and retrieved their home work; but each of their questions remained unanswered. Mulder grabbed scully's hand before she could walk away. "My answer is yes… now tell me yours."

She stepped right up to him, and wiggled her finger at him; beckoning him down to her level.

"Yes. I'll be at your place at seven." And with that; she gave him a peck on his cheek. She smiled and walked down the wall; leaving a very excited Mulder in her wake. She looked back at him as she walked.

Amazing; she had just taken complete control over him. No matter, he was going on a date with Dana scully! If he only got one chance at this; he better get it right. He pulled himself together and ran cheerily down the hallway. As he ran, he pulled out his cell phone and dialled john's number. Doggett answered as Mulder reached the road;

"John! It's Mulder! I need you're help!"

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**God! The urge to leave a cliff-hanger was unbearable!!!!! Okay, I gave in; enough dancing about. Next chapter is Mulder and scully's first date. :D he he! Time for some bitter sweet romance I reckon!! Review! Review! Don't make me beg (it's embarrassing!) **

**I like this game I'm playing; which episode is this quote from:**

**MULDER:** Well, I don't think I'll use the phrase "flying squirrel" when I talk to Skinner, but ... yeah, that's what happened.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own any thing (****pouts lip in sadness)**

**Summary: Mulder and scully go on a date... (Sighs happily) so what's gonna happen? WARNING: I did it again! Cliff hanger alert! Mulder made me do it! I swear! It's risky and totally crazy, but bear with me.**

**A/note: the CSM got to me and made me to some thing slightly evil… I don't mind. You'll just have to read and see. ;D actually I did a few evil things. MAJOR twist in this one; I'm probably going to get a few letter bombs for this one, but its ok. I'll fix it if you hate it. He he… enjoy!**

**PS: the quote was 'bad blood', good work guys! :)**

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"Oh my god; you're panicking aren't you?" Monica asked as she sat cross legged on scully's bed, watching her walk around her bedroom as if she were looking for something.

Scully stopped and flopped over her bed; "yes, I am." She muffled into her blanket. She raised her head; "I have no idea what's gonna happen tonight. For all I know, this could be a 'we're best friends' date or an 'I wanna be your boyfriend' date. I don't ever know what to wear! Is it formal? Is it casual? God! I'm stressing out here!" Scully dropped her face back into her blanket.

"Okay, okay, I'll find out." Monica pulled out her cell phone. Scully frowned into her blanket. She sat up and watched Monica standing in the middle of her room; hand on hip, with her phone to her ear.

"John, it's me. Can you ask Mulder what scully should were tonight?" Monica said. Scully rolled her eyes and smiled, Mulder was worried about tonight too. Monica waited for a reply.

"Okay then; I'll let her know… really? You're kidding!" She saw scully concern and confusion; "hey we gotta go if we're gonna get to go shopping… yeah, you too. Bye." She hung up. She turned to scully; who was no longer sitting on her bed, but row standing in front of Monica.

"Mulder say's it's both casual and formal… I'm not supposed to tell you, but he said he would love to see you in a dress." Scully bit on her lower lip and raised her eyebrows.

"I don't exactly have a dress. Not one for this kind of occasion, anyway… what was so funny before anyway?"

Monica let a very mischievous grin creep across her face; "apparently Mulder is panicking over what he's gonna wear too." Scully snorted and grabbed her purse.

"Come on, be have some spending to do." They walked out of the room together, laughing as they went.

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06:42 PM

Mulder's house

Mulder stood in the kitchen; he had planned out the evenings events and changed his mind about dinner. He had spent nearly half an hour deciding on his own outfit. Thanks to john's help; he settled on some dressy black pants and matching belt, he had tucked in his pressed button up white shirt but left the top two buttons undone. Over that he had a matching black jacket, left open to keep up the casual look.

The doorbell rang. She was early, no complaints from Mulder; he'd been ready for an hour. He half skipped to the front door and felt his jaw drop when he opened it.

There she was, standing on his doorstep; a rose in her hand and wearing one of the most gorgeous outfits ever. Her hair was pulled back into a loose bun, letting random tendrils for around her ears. Her make up was light and barely noticeable, except for her cherry lip gloss. Her dress was a spaghetti strap, above the knee, silky black piece that hugged her figure in all the right places. Her heels had black straps and made her a good two inches taller.

Mulder was lost for words. She smiled at his state; "you like it?" she twirled in front of him. She stopped and took in his appearance, "you look fantastic."

'Come on brain! Switch on!' Mulder thought. "Thank you, you look absolutely… phenomenal." He kept his gaze on her. Wow, she was absolutely beautiful, she looked so much older. He stepped aside to let her in. She walked forwards and stopped in between him and the door frame. She held up the rose in her hand; "this is for you."

He took it and smelled it. It smelt familiar to him, and he blushed. 'Hang on, I asked _her_ out, how come she's calling all the shots. Time to get a grab on this situation' he thought as he felt the blood heating his cheeks. He lean forwards and kissed her cheek, as she had earlier today; "thank you." she flushed scarlet red and continued into the house. 'Gotcha.' He thought victoriously.

"So what's for dinner?" she turned to him, her face now a more normal colour.

"We're eating out tonight. I think the occasion warrants something special." He went to the kitchen and put the rose in a small vase.

Scully raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Anywhere in particular?"

"Yes, there's a special restaurant I want to take you to. Our reservations are for 7:15, so we can still go now if you want."

"Sounds good to me." He walked up to her and offered his hand. She took it, lacing her fingers with his, they smiled at each other.

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The restaurant was definitely unique. 'The tower tavern' it was called; it was a circular building that had a balcony that reached out over a river. It had a three story tall wire frame tower on the roof, lights that were hidden under the balcony lit up the water in a pale orange light.

Mulder escorted scully form the cab all the way to their table; which, was out on the balcony. The table was candlelit, it was rather romantic. They were approached by a tall, dark haired waitress;

"Hi, my name is tash; I'll be your waitress for this evening. Are you ready to order?" She smiled at Mulder.

They ordered their dinner. Mulder chose a rump steak, and scully surprised him by choosing the same thing. She often ate salad at school, sometimes a burger or fries. But now she proved to Mulder that she wasn't one of those girls who said she was full after eating a tic-tac and a glass of water. She ate like a real person.

"I think the waitress likes you." Scully whispered as she leaned back in her chair. She was almost finished with her dinner, and it was _definitely_ filling.

"Oh yeah. Well maybe I should ask her out…"

Scully scoffed; "no way! You're mine!" he smiled at her enthusiasm, finishing the last of his steak.

"I guess that means you're mine then;" scully swallowed the last bite of the salad that came with her steak. She wiped her face with her napkin. "My one in… five billion." He added.

Tash returned to remove their empty plates from the table. She gave Mulder an admiring look before disappearing into the kitchen. Mulder took scully's hand in his;

"What time is your mum picking you up?"

"Around eleven. Hey, why did you choose this place anyway?"

Mulder leant his elbow on the table and looked at her hand resting in his. "My parents met here. I thought it would be nice to show you. Seeing as you haven't met my parents yet." Scully placed her other hand on his.

"That's very sweet of you Mulder… I wish I could meet you're parents. But I guess they travel a lot…" she looked away.

"They didn't when I was a kid. As I got older, the time increased. Then 1 was 13; they would leave for a few days, when I was about 15, it became weeks. It annoyed me; but since this year; I haven't exactly minded being home by myself. It was hard after Samantha disappeared, I had to deal with my emotions on my own;" scully ran her fingers over his knuckles. She now understood why he got angry; his parents were hardly around for him. He continued; "but it got easier, I withdrew into my own little world I guess."

"Mulder… I'm sorry-"she began.

"Don't be! Since I've met you, I've been so much happier. Scully; just having you around sets me straight, you make me laugh, and smile and actually make me want to get out of bed in the morning. Please, don't be sorry for that."

They gazed at each other, feeling things fall into place. She now understood him, she rejoiced in the fact he had explained it to her. He felt relieved that she was still there, listening to him; they were interrupted. Tash was back.

"Would you guys like to order desert?" She smiled sweetly; again at Mulder. Oh yeah, she liked him.

"I dunno about you… but I'm pretty full. Besides, there still a few things to do before the end of the night." Mulder said to scully.

"I'm pretty full too. Time to get going?" Mulder nodded in reply.

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As they walked out of the restaurant, Mulder called a cab. He wrapped one arm around scully's shoulder, she wrapped one around his waist. She felt not only comfortable there, but also felt like she belonged there, at his side. He hung up; "it'll be here in 5." She nodded and shivered. It was unusually cool and her dress didn't offer much warmth either.

Mulder pulled away from her and took off his jacket; he placed it over her shoulders and brought her into his arms. "Better?" he said as she snaked her arms around his waist again. "Much better" she replied. She wasn't talking about the jacket either. They stood there on the path way, no speaking; but simply standing together. The cab finally arrived.

Mulder opened the door for her. She was a little flustered by his polite gesture.

"So where are you guys heading?" The driver asked.

"Down to the beacon theatre thanks, um…" he leant forwards to see the driver's ID; "Luis." He leaned back in his seat and put his arm around scully. He turned to her. "I thought we might go see a show. I think you'll like it."

They arrived at the theatre just before 8:30. People were walking in and scully looked up to see the advertisement;

_ELLEN DEGENRES_

_THE BEGINNING_

_Sold out_

"Mulder… It says it's sold out?" She said; stating the obvious. She loved Ellen; she was absolutely hilarious.

Mulder pulled out two tickets from his pocket. "Guess it's a good thing I got the tickets beforehand." Scully squealed a little and gave him a thankful hug. Tickets like these wouldn't have been cheap, but it seemed that Mulder had gotten them a while ago. "It says the show goes for an hour and a half. So we should make it back to my place a bit before 10:30."

He offered her his arm and escorted her inside.

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The show was hilarious; scully was in tears most of the time. They made it back to Mulder's house just as it turned 10:25 PM. Mulder walked scully to his front door, and let her in.

"I had so much fun tonight, Mulder! I'm glad I said yes to you." She said removing his jacket and handed it to him. He took it and put it on the armrest of the couch. He turned to her.

"Nights not quite over yet. Still one thing I wanna do before you leave me." He took her hand and walked to the back door. It was dark outside, but Mulder seemed to be able to navigate his way around perfectly well. He walked over to the wooden table and picked up a small object, he led her to an open space in the middle of the porch and stood in front of her. She saw his silhouette standing in front of her. He raised the had holding the object and flicked his wrist;

The yard came to life and some music played over the speakers. Scully looked around and saw what looked like Christmas lights; strung up everywhere; in the trees; around the pool fence, along the roof… everywhere. She recognised the song, 'put your head on my shoulder' and smiled widely. Mulder had done all of this for her? Wow, he really did like her.

"I wanted the chance to dance with you…" he put the small remote control back on the table, held out his right hand to her. She took it and let her pull him into his arms. He hesitantly, but carefully placed his left hand on her hip. She placed her right hold around the back of his shoulder; pulling him even closer.

They were both very nervous right now; but started swaying slowly to the music. As the song described, she rested her swimming head on his broad shoulder. It was rather peaceful, not speaking; just moving. It felt like forever; which was fine by both, when the door bell rang. Scully, reluctantly, pulled her head back from Mulder's shoulder.

"That's my mum. I'll be honest Mulder; I don't want tonight to end." She sighed. Mulder dropped his head to rest his forehead on hers. "Me neither" he whispered. They were so close. The moment was perfect, but could Mulder do it; considering what had Ethan had done to her and her insecurities. He took a chance. He pulled back to look into her eyes. Those beautiful, sparkling blue eyes. He leaned forwards; as did she.

He met her lips half way, placing a small, innocent kiss to her lips. It was sweet and caring; and scully appreciated his caution. She pulled back only a few millimetres, still nuzzling lightly into his nose; "well that's a first for me… I better go." She whispered against his lips.

He led her back through the house to the front door, still holding one of her hands. She let go of him when he opened the door. Maggie was sitting in the car at the front of the house. As much as Mulder wanted to kiss her goodnight, he thought it might not be wise to do so in front of scully's mother. Scully gave him a lingering kiss on his cheek and began walking towards the car.

"Hey scully!" He called from the front door. She turned and looked back at him, "my first… ever." He said, smiling wildly as he recalled the wonderful memory.

"Mine too." She giggled and got in the car. Mulder watched them pull down the drive way and down the street.

Was she for real?! She was with Ethan for all that time without actually kissing him? Damn! He still had one question left to ask her but forgot to mention it. He turned and ran to his room; he grabbed his cell phone;

'_Does this mean you're my girlfriend now??' _ He typed in.

He waited about 20 minutes for scully to reply. She didn't take her phone with her tonight, so she wouldn't reply straight away. When his phone chirped, he dived to his bed where it sat.

'_:D yes, I think it does… nite nite.'_

Mulder held his phone to his chest and sighed. He fell backwards onto his bed and fell asleep smiling as he recalled the feeling of scully's lips on his.

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Scully skipped through the house to the lounge room where her father sat, reading the newspaper to pretend he wasn't waiting up.

"You have fun starbuck?" Scully squealed and jumped into her fathers lap, kissing him on the cheek. Mr. scully was surprised at her behaviour; she was entirely over the moon. She laughed out loud "I had the best time in the world dad! It was fantastic!" She cuddled him before climbing out of his lap. Thank god, he loved his daughter, but she was 16 and not a little girl anymore. She bounded up the stairs, not tripping once in her heels, which was a miracle in itself.

Maggie watched her from the door, shaking at her love struck daughter.

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Scully ran past Bill's room, noticing he wasn't there, she continued to Melissa's room. She let herself in and found her sister on her bed, reading a magazine. She ran to her sister and jumped onto the bed, almost knocking her off.

"How'd it go?" Melissa squeaked as scully hugged her excitedly.

"He kissed me missy!" She bounced up and down on her knees. "It was brilliant! First we went out for dinner, and then we went to the Ellen DeGeneres' stand up show! Oh, she was funny! Then we went back to his place! And then-"Melissa cut her off.

"Okay Danes! Relax or you'll hyperventilate!" Melissa grabbed her sister's shoulders. "I believe you… now go to bed." She pushed scully off her bed and watched her float happily out the door. She shook her head and smiled. Her sister was in love, how cute.

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Scully walked into her room, she didn't know what to do with herself. She went to her bed and pulled out her journal and cell phone. She checked her phone. One message from Mulder. She read it, and happily replied. She was his girlfriend… she had to get that in writing!

She opened her journal and wrote only one thing in it:

'_I'M FOX MULDER'S GIRLFRIEND! WAHOO!!'_

She shut her journal and put it and her cell phone under her bed. Even though she was high on adrenaline and excitement; she knew it was time for bed. She kicked off her heels and slipped off her little black dress. She sifted through her clothes and finally found her yellow pyjama's that were covered in pink elephants. (A/note: yes, I own a pair)

She settled herself into bed, but the silence annoyed her. She heard a car pull up in front of the house. Curiosity got the better of her, and she snuck out of her room and wandered into her parent's room to look out the window. She looked down to see bill standing at the front of the drive way kissing a brunette girl. Oh, that's why he wasn't here. He had a date too.

Bill pulled away from the girl and began walking towards the house, scully's eyes widened as she recognized the mystery girl standing outside her house;

It was Diana.

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**God! I am evil! Okay, tell me what do you guys think? Don't worry! This wasn't mindless drama! I have a reason for everything… well, most things. Stay tuned for chapter ten1 it's a doozy! Thanks for those reviews; I love them all so much!**

**PS: the tower tavern is a real place; I visited it once and loved it.**

**Okay! Try this quote on for size:**

**MULDER:** (happily) that's entertainment!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: naht mine… but I am trying.  
**

**  
Summary: Mulder meets Mr. scully, has a conflict with Bill and finds out about bill and Diana. Mulder and Doggett give their girlfriends a special gift and spender is showing his true colours.  
**

**  
A/note: ok time for some drama. Don't panic, the MSR storyline is still top priority, but I'll be introducing the DRR into the story too, that'll give me an excuse to write mushy romance bits :D oh yeah, last quote was from 'first person shooter.' Enjoy!!  
**

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'FOX!'

'HELP ME FOX!'

Samantha floated in front of me, she was scared. She reached out to me.

'FOX! FOX! HELP ME!'

I reach for her, but she moves away. I try to move forwards, but I am paralyzed. I call to her;

'SAMANTHA!'

She tries to reach for me again, I wave my arms; trying to get closer. She drifts further away. The white light is blinding, I squint my eyes to try and see her, the light engulfs her. She screams;

'FOOOXXXXXX!!'

Mulder gasped and awoke, sitting up in his bed as his sheets tried to strangle him. He panted and felt the burning tears roll down his cheek; it was dark; must be early in the morning. He leant forward and rested his elbows on his knees, weighing his temple in the palms of his hands.

He sat there for a few moments; trying to banish the dream from his memory, rather than relive it. He swallowed, with difficulty, and leant over to the side of his bed, reaching for his bed side lamp. He turned it on, screwing his eyes shut as the blinding light brought upon flashbacks of his dream. He opened his eyes carefully and picked up his watch from the bed stand; 04:18 AM.

He looked down at his shirtless body; it glistened in the thin layer of cold sweat that covered him. He slowed his breathing, but finding no comfort, he rolled out of bed and grabbed his cell phone from his desk as he stumbled wearily out of his room.

Scully was jolted awake at the sound of her cell phones muffled ring coming from under her bed. Damned be the fool who wakes a teenage girl at 4 in the morning. She quickly grabbed her cell before the ringing woke up the household; she hit the 'answer' button;

"What…" she mumbled grumpily into the phone.

"Scully? It's me. Sorry, I woke you up." Mulder replied sheepishly. She was annoyed, but knew Mulder wouldn't call without reason.

"No, it's okay Mulder. I was kinda awake anyway." She lied. She had been dead to the world; but she could hear the guilt in his voice.

"What?! It's four in the morning! Why weren't you asleep?" He enquired.

"Oh, my boyfriend decided to call me. That's why." She told him grumpily. She sighed; "What's wrong Mulder?"

He hesitated; "I had a pretty bad nightmare. I needed something to make me feel better… so I called you."

Aw. She couldn't stay mad at him now. "I'm here if you need me, but can this wait till school? Then I can be there in person to make you feel better."

She could feel him smiling on the other end of the phone. "Ok then Scully, thanks for not yelling at me. I feel better now." He said warmly.

"See you in the morning. Night Mulder."

"Night Scully." He hung up.

She sighed and flopped back into her pillow. She was sympathetic to him; with his memories and emotional neglect she knew he was a bit reliant on her. At the same time, she was reliant on him, she kept most feelings to herself. Monica and Melissa gave her a slight outlet, but Mulder was there to listen to her more personal troubles. But still, she hoped this late night phone call thing didn't happen too often.

It took Scully almost an hour to get back to sleep, but when she did, she slept till nearly 8AM. But when she woke up again, boy, did she wake up.

Mulder walked up to the front door of Scully's house at 07:50, he stopped at the door and hesitated before knocking; hoping anyone except Bill would answer. He took the risk and knocked. He waited with his hands in his jean pockets and bag on his back; the door finally opened, and there stood Mr. Scully. Mulder silently gulped;

"Hi… I'm Fox Mulder. I'm Dana's um…" he paused.

"Boyfriend?" Mr. Scully interjected. Mulder simply nodded nervously. "My wife already told me about you;" he stepped aside and gestured for Mulder to come in. Mulder raised his eyebrows in surprise, but entered. Mr. Scully shut the front door behind him, "…and Melissa, and Charlie, and of course Dana did too. I'm glad to actually meet you." He held out a hand to Mulder, who shook it stiffly.

"You too sir, Scu- um, I mean Dana, has talked about you." He said as he put his schoolbag on the floor near the door.

"I get called sir enough when I'm at work; call me William." Mr. Scully said as he beckoned Mulder into the lounge room. He sat in an old armchair and indicated for Mulder to sit in the seat across from him. Mrs. Scully came in with a tea towel in her hands.

"Good morning Fox! We didn't expect to see you here!" she didn't sound annoyed, but she was fishing for an explanation.

"Yeah, I, um, wanted to walk Dana to school this morning. I thought it would be a nice thing to do." He stuttered. God, he was nervous.

"Well you're always welcome Fox. Do you boys want a cup of coffee or tea?" Mr. Scully nodded and looked at Mulder inexpressively. So that's were Scully gets it from.

"Ah, cup of tea would be great, thanks. Oh, is Dana awake yet?" He asked as he sat down across from Mr. Scully. He preferred his tea cold; but wasn't going to risk being rude.

Mrs. Scully headed to the kitchen but called over her shoulder; "No, but if she isn't up in ten minutes, you can go wake her up."

Mulder stayed silent. Mr. Scully took a deep breath and repositioned himself in his chair. Mulder knew what was coming; the lecture.

"You must understand how I feel about Dana dating… after her relationship with Ethan." Mulder nodded. "But, at the other end of the stick, everyone in the family, except William Jr., has nothing but positive things to say about you." Mulder didn't move, he just titled his head in acknowledgement. "…and you where there for Dana when she got into that fight at school, and afterwards as well… that said, I have no problem with you seeing Dana."

Mulder smiled slightly and nodded his head. Inside he was bouncing for joy. "I care for Dana, a lot. I would never do anything to hurt her. You have my word."

"How old are you, son?" Mr. Scully said bluntly.

"Nearly seventeen. My birthday is in October."

"Dana turns seventeen in February, which means you're… what? Eight months older than her? I hope I can trust you to behave appropriately in that regard." He didn't need to specify. Mulder knew he was referring to sex; and to be honest, Mulder had thought about it, but he also knew the importance of it and wasn't going to push it.

"Yes, I will. I just hope I have the chance to earn your trust." He replied cautiously.

"You're doing an okay job so far." He stood up and Mulder did too, out of courtesy. Mr. Scully came forwards and stood in front of Mulder; even though they were the same height, Mulder still felt a bit intimidated. "Go wake up Dana and then you join us for breakfast." He patted Mulder's arm.

Mulder simply smiled and nodded, before bounding up the stairs in excitement. Scully's dad approved of him! Yay! He reached Scully's room and tapped lightly on it, no response, he smiled and carefully opened it just enough to poke his nose through. She was lying face down in her bed, dead to the world. He held back a laugh when he saw her yellow and pink pajamas.

He snuck carefully up to her bed and stood looking at her; considering the best way to wake her up. This was one temptation he couldn't resist; he jumped over her and strategically landed next to her on her bed.

"Morning gorgeous!" He said as he snuggled into her. She was a heavy sleeper, she turned her head to look at him through sleepy eyes.

Her eyes widened and so did her lips; into an all bearing smile. She squealed and wrapped her arms around him, half rolling onto him.

"What are you doing here?! I'm not complaining, but why are you here?" She said into his shoulder. He sat up, taking her with him;

"I was gonna walk you to school. Oh yeah, I met your dad;" her smile vanished; "It's okay though, I had the lecture, and he seems to like me." Her smile came back. He crawled off her bed and walked to the door. He looked back at her; "Come on, get dressed. I'm staying for breakfast and then we got to get to school." He shut the door and headed down the stairs. Scully had trouble containing her excitement.

Scully threw on a pair of jeans and converse. She found her clean school shirt and ducked into the bathroom on the way out. Her hair was fine, she was lucky that way, she often didn't get bed hair; it was the only thing she liked about it.

She fluttered down the stairs and skipped into the kitchen where she found Melissa, Charlie and her mum on one side of the table; chowing down on cereal and her dad and Mulder on the other side, both pointing and reading in the same newspaper; drinking occasionally from their coffee cups. Her heart melted, Mulder was fitting in. She went over and sat next to Mulder; he turned and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and rubbed his back in thanks.

A grumble came from behind her and she turned and saw Bill wobble into the room; his hair all scruffy and still in his pajamas. Scully felt all the colour drain from her face.

Bill stopped when he saw Mulder sitting in the chair he normally occupied at the table. Everyone turned and looked at him. Oh god.

"What's he doing here?" He asked Scully. She had trouble answering him, he clenched his fists. Mulder spoke up;

"I'm walking Scully to school," Mulder turned in his seat.

"I didn't ask you, spooky…" he snarled. William Scully stood up and stood between him and Mulder;

"Junior. Outside, now." He commanded.

Bill went to speak, but broke his gaze with his father and nodded. He took one last look at Mulder before walking out to the back door. Mr. Scully followed him. Mulder was relieved; Bill still bowed down to at least one person. Luckily that one person was on his side.

Scully felt the tension in the room; she had to get out of there. She turned back to Mulder. "We better get going; there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

They walked together, down the road. Mulder could see Scully was troubled; he grabbed her hand and asked; "What's the matter? I'm over that thing with Bill if that's what you're worried about."

She squeezed his hand. "Mulder, it's not that. It's just that, I saw something last night after I got home and I need to tell you."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"I kinda saw Bill kissing a girl…"

"What? You mean you're brother found someone who will actually put up with him? Was she ugly" he asked cheekily.

Scully giggled. "Well that's debatable; um… he was kissing Diana"

Mulder froze and stared. He looked around him and her, searching for something, but Scully couldn't guess what. He bent down and placed his free hand on her shoulder; "You sure Scully? You sure it wasn't someone else?"

"No. I'm sure it was her."

Mulder looked away and sighed, shaking his head. He dropped the hand on her shoulder back down to his side. He looked back down at her, "Okay, then I reckon we should just leave them alone. But keep an eye on your brother."

"Why?"

"I dunno… just promise me you will." Scully nodded. She wasn't convinced he was so ignorant; but if he was willing to let the subject go, so was she.

They continued on till they got to school. They quickly forgot about Diana and Bill; or at least tried to by not talking about it.

The next day at lunch; Monica and Scully found their usual table empty.

"I haven't seen the guys since this morning, have you?" Scully asked Monica.

"Nup, I saw Mulder in maths and I came to school with John. But apart from that, no." She replied as they sat down at their table.

"Hey Mon, check this out!" She pointed to the corner of their table where, in blue white board marker, it was written;

_To Monica and Dana,  
Try the gym.  
From Mulder and John.  
_

_  
_Monica and Scully looked at each other, smiling like crazy. Scully grabbed Monica's hand and they ran together out of the cafeteria; leaving their lunches behind them on their graphitized table.

They burst through the gym doors and ran onto the court. They looked around and spotted Mulder and Doggett standing at the top of the bleachers; in their black and red basketball uniforms, hands behind their back; with the guiltiest smiles conceived by man. The girls stood in the middle of the court, panting from all the running they had done to get there so quickly.

The boys looked at each other; still grinning. They began walking down the steps; hands still behind their backs. The girl dropped their heavy school bags. The boys stopped in front of them, their shoes squeaking on the smooth court.

"Close your eyes" Mulder said.

"We got a surprise for you two." Doggett added.

Monica and Scully exchanged worried looks. They grabbed each other's hand for support and closed their eyes.

"Okay" said Mulder.

"Open" said Doggett.

The girls opened their eyes and were greeted by two black and red basketball singlets being held up in front of them. They weren't average shirts though. The one Mulder held up had 'my girl' in small writing, and 'DANA' printed underneath in big red letters. Monica's was the same except hers said 'MONICA' instead.

Both the girl squealed loudly and jumped into their boyfriends arms. Monica kissed John on the lips and Mulder pulled Scully off the ground and span her around. When he finally put her down she gave him a soft peck on his lips.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you guys! These are awesome!" Monica wiggled into hers over the top of her school shirt.

"Yes! Thank you! You guys are so sweet!" Mulder helped Scully into hers.

"Hey, you two don't mind if we go, um…" John tilted his head towards the door. It was pretty obvious what he meant: go make out in his truck. He didn't need to say it.

"Nah, go for it." Mulder said, waving his hand nonchalantly. John and Monica grabbed their bags and ran out of the gym. Leaving Mulder and Scully alone. Scully reached up and linked her hands behind Mulder's neck.

"This was really sweet of you." He held onto her hips. He leaned down and gave her another innocent kiss; it was just starting to get a bit more passionate when a voice called out to them.

"You two shouldn't be in here." They stopped and looked for the source of the intruding voice. They found it. Mr. Spender was standing in the shadows next to the bleachers.

Mulder and Scully broke apart quickly. The school didn't forbid it, but it did frown on public displays of affection. Scully wiped her mouth discreetly, Mulder spoke up; "Sorry Mr. Spender. I was just gonna teach Scully how to play ball one on one."

Spender didn't leave his spot. "I see that. Don't let me catch you in here again."

"Yes sir." They replied in unison. Mulder took Scully's bag in one hand and her shoulder in the other. They ran quickly out the gym doors into the hall.

'An unusual couple they make. Complete opposites. But at the same time, complete equals. He will be stabilized by her logic and independent mind. She, by his playfulness and optimism. They make a dangerous combination of personalities.' Spender thought as he watched them run. He took a puff from the cigarette he had been concealing behind his back.

He turned and looked into the darkness under the bleachers were three figures were crouching; trying to stay concealed. They stood.

"Hurry up." He mumbled to them. He looked back at the courts and took another puff of his cigarette.

"Okay, let's do this." Krycek said as he held out his hand to the two seniors before him. They pulled out 20 dollar notes from their pockets and handed them to him.

Spender watched them and dropped the half finished cigarette onto the floor. He stood and crushed it with his foot, before flicking it under the bleachers. It slid and came to rest next to many others.

**  
Hmmm… Where to go from here. Ooh! I got it! Not telling though!! He he he! :p next chapter, more bill and Diana mischief, and Mulder and Scully go on a double date with Monica and Doggett … until something spoils the fun… OMG! X files is on!! Gotta go!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: *sighs* nope, still not mine**

**Summary: Mulder's birthday! Yay! Not much happens until he and scully get caught up in a crisis that runs deeper than they imagined.**

**A/note: sorry for the wait guys. I just needed a little drama before I used Mulder and scully's relationship to save time and start rushing them into things. If you haven't noticed; I'm following the true X files fashion and taking my sweet sweet time. It's okay. **

**Read it and review it. I absolutely love to hear what you guys have to say, seriously. :D**

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"Hey Mulder?"

"Yeah?" Mulder kept his eyes on the rope in front of him. He and scully sat on the branch that hung near her bedroom window; each with an end of rope in their hands. Scully had always taken the swing with her every time she moved house, and this time was no exception.

"What do you want for your birthday?" she had already finished tying her end; her dad was in the navy after all; so tying knots was easy for her. Mulder, on the other hand, wasn't s dexterous. He looked up at her;

"Well…" he said as he waggled his eyebrows. Scully scoffed and smiled. "Okay um, I dunno… a Rubik's cube." He shrugged.

"A Rubik's cube?" Scully said raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I never had one and I always wanted one. Something random that I've always wanted to own, you know?" he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

"I know what you mean. I always wanted a rubber ducky…" Mulder looked back up at her, trying, and failing to suppress a smirk.

He covered his mouth with his fist.

"What?" scully asked, hiding her hurt. Mulder still saw it.

"Um, a rubber ducky scully? You never owned a rubber ducky?" He said trying to breathe deeply to stop himself from giggling.

"Nope, but I always wanted to." Mulder looked down at the ground. He shuffled back away from scully and swung his leg over so they were on the same side of the branch. He mouthed 'one, two, three' and jumped out of the tree, making a thud as he landed.

"Mulder? Where are you going?" scully said as she watched him walk towards the fence where his bike and schoolbag rested on the grass. She watched him dig through his bag and put something in his pocket. He walked back the tree and stood at the base; wiggling his finger in front of his broad nose, gesturing for her to come down.

She looked down at the ground, it was only about two metres off the ground; but it still looked high. She hesitated and began to climb down the tree. When her feet were only a few inches above the ground, she felt Mulder's hands on her waist. She let go of the branch she was gripping onto and let herself fall back into his arms.

He put her on the ground, leaving one hand on her hip; she turned around, causing his hand to trail across her back to rest on her other hip. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small yellow duck. Scully laughed out loud at the sight if it.

"No way Mulder! Why the heck do you keep a duck in your schoolbag?!" She asked looking up at him, and then back at the duck he held. He gestured for her to take it. She took it and looked at it excitedly.

Mulder rubbed the back of his neck, "it was Samantha's, but I want you to have it."

Scully caught the sad look cross his face. It was a very sweet gesture and if she refused; she might have hurt his feelings;

"Thank you Mulder." She said as she took the hand that rest on her hip and held it.

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The day of Mulder's birthday came quickly; his parents were even in town to celebrate it. As he suspected, they gave him a car; not so much as a present but more as compensation for their consistent absence.

The car was nice; a sleek black truck with a stereo and leather seats. Thankfully, both Mulder and scully had passed the Driver's Ed course two weeks beforehand. So he quickly got his license; and what better way to celebrate than to spend a day with his girlfriend.

He pulled up at the front of scully's house and cut the engine. He twirled the fingers around his fingers as he strutted up to the front door. He rang the doorbell; it finally opened and Mulder looked down to see Charlie standing there;

"Hey Charlie."

"Hey fox" he held up a fist to Mulder. Mulder smiled and hit the boy's knuckles with his own. Over the last few weeks, he and Charlie had gotten better acquainted and had come up with what Charlie called 'their secret handshake'. He got along well with Charlie and Melissa, he fit in well with the family and Mr. and Mrs. Scully had virtually taken him in as one of their own. Bill was still dating Diana, which meant he spent a lot of time out, which was good because whenever he was home; he was either acting angry and secretive or sleeping.

Charlie stepped aside and let Mulder in. As welcome as Mulder was at the scully residence, he still waited for an invite before he made a move. "Dana's upstairs, mum and dad are having lunch" Charlie said before wander into the lounge.

Mulder went to the dining room to say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Scully before he went to see Dana. He knew scully's dad trusted him, but showing the appropriate respect to them only made him look more mature. He found Mr. scully, once again, reading a paper. Mrs. Scully looked up when he entered the room;

"Fox! I though I heard you talking to Charlie. Oh yes, happy birthday too." Mulder smiled and William stood up and offered Mulder his hand.

"Thank you ma'am. My parents bought me a car. I was wondering if I could take Dana for a ride. I have my license of course; I got that a few weeks ago." He said shaking Williams's hand. He used scully's first name in front of her parents, mostly to convince them that he knew it. He did his best to maintain a good impression with scully's parents.

"I have no problem with it." Margaret said.

"Nor do I. Just drive safely…" William added, he gave Mulder a warning look.

"I drive pretty well; and if Dana's with me; I'm definitely not going to be an idiot." He said honestly.

"Okay then… Dana got you something for you. You can head on up if you like." William said as he sat down and resumed eating his lunch.

"Thank you." Mulder said as he turned and headed up the stairs. Approaching scully's room, he heard music being blasted through scully's stereo. He knocked and opened the door; she was sitting at her computer typing away, her head bobbing away to the music.

She was singing along to the music; not very well but it was still cute. She didn't hear him sneak up and stand behind her. He spotted his old ducky sitting onto of the computer. He watched her as she typed, what looked like a story.

"If I could reach the stars… I'd give em all to, you!" She sang as she went.

Mulder smiled at his silly girlfriend; "really?" Scully jumped in her seat and stood up and turned to face him. "You don't have to…"

Scully stopped panting and reached up to give him a quick kiss. She gave him a tight hug: "happy birthday Mulder!"

"Thank you. Whatcha writing there scully?" he said, trying to lean over her to read it.

Scully let go of him and backed herself up against the computer screen, blocking his view; "nothing Mulder; it's just a little story. You can read it when it's finished… you're present is under my pillow." She nodded over towards her bed. Mulder smiled and wandered over to her bed and jumped on it. Scully took the chance to save and exit from what she was doing on the computer.

Mulder reached under her pillows and found a cube shaped object; he rolled his eyes, Rubik's cube. He pulled it out and looked at it; it wasn't a normal cube. Instead of coloured sides, each face had a picture of him and scully printed on it. They were photo's they took a few weeks after they had gotten together. Each side was different. He looked up at scully wide eyed.

Scully folded her arms; "there's a company that makes personalised cubes. You send in six pictures and they print them up on the face of the cube for you. It only came in yesterday, even though I ordered it like, three weeks ago. You like it?"

Mulder put the cube on the bed and stood up, he walked up to her and hugged her at the waist, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. "Are you kidding?! I love it!" she squealed at the excitement. "I reckon it's heaps better than my other present!"

He stopped spinning and fell backwards onto scully's bed; careful to avoid landing on the cube. She giggled into his chest, but eventually raised her head and readjusted her self as she lay on top of him; "what did your mum and dad give you?" She said as she played with his hair.

"Just a car…" scully's jaw dropped and her eyes glazed over. "Well, actually it's a truck, but I like your present better." He shrugged. "Wanna go for a ride?" He was sincere; he liked her gift better than the apology present from his parents. The truck was nice, but there was no thought in it.

"Hell yeah! Let's go!" she jumped off of him and grabbed his hand. She virtually dragged him out the door.

Mulder let her hand go; "wait up, I'm forgetting something." He ducked back to scully's bed and grabbed the cube. "Can't forget this."

-------------------

They drove around town for a few hours, but they stopped past Monica's house and invited her and john; who was with her of course, out for a double date. They accepted and jumped in the back seat. They hung out at the mall for a few hours till the sun had set. Mulder treated everyone to dinner at his favourite Chinese restaurant. They had a good time; laughing and joking around. Mulder could easily say that this was the best birthday he had had in along time.

After dinner; the two couples walked down to the local park. The park had a path that ran around the edge, so they separated and went in different directions; agreeing to meet in the middle and cut through back to the car. Monica and john went one way, and Mulder and scully went the other.

"Did you have fun today, Mulder?" she said, resting her head on his arm; because she certainly couldn't reach his shoulder.

"Yes… the most fun I've had in a long time. I like that Rubik's cube, but I reckon the best present I got was the other one you gave me…"

Scully slowed down almost to a stop and looked at him, confused as hell. Mulder ran his fingers along her silky hair; "what was that Mulder?"

He leaned down till his lips hovered above hers; "you…" he whispered before lightly kissing her. Scully scrunched her shoulders in embarrassment and kissed him back. She separated her lips, allowing hm deeper access, which he took willingly. They stood together for a few minutes, enjoying the sensation of their passionate kiss. They stopped abruptly and looked into the darkness to see a group of about eight very loud people coming towards them.

Mulder's protective instinct kicked in and he ran off the path into the gardens; with scully close in tow. The hid behind some bushes and watched the group stop at the bench they were standing near only moments ago. Mulder's flight reaction was justified; the group were all either drunk or high. They were all fairly young, but they were quite far away so neither he nor scully could distinguish their faces.

The group stumbled around and laughed like hyenas, some had beer bottles in their hands. They crawled around over the bench and began play fighting. One of the boys collapsed on the ground, and didn't move. The group watched him; one of them yelled out; "aw crap! Let's get outta here before we get caught." The group ran away, leaving their companion lying face down on the grass.

Mulder and scully waited about five minutes before moving out from behind the bushes. Scully ran ahead of Mulder towards the young man passed out on the grass. She knelt down beside him and began shaking him. "Hey mister? You okay?" She got no response. She rolled him over and turned back to Mulder as he walked up to her; "Mulder! Call 911!" Mulder did as she asked. He quickly moved around scully and found the source of her panic.

It was Bill.

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***tut tut* silly billy. So what's gonna happen to bill? What's he been up to all his time? Have to wait and see. **

**Review, Review, Review, Review, please review!! Please?!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: nup, still aint mine… Grrr.**

**Summary: very long chapter. Hope you guys don't mind. um, bill meets Tara, scully has been writing stories, Mulder meets scully's cousins, Maggie scully's thoughts about Mulder, Mulder wakes up in bed with scully, Mulder discovers an embarrassing secret or two of scully's… yeah. Oh and Mulder has a funny dream montage. Tashy helped me come up with that one… :D**

**A/note: school goes back tomorrow!! (Cries!) And cos I'm in year twelve, I won't be updating as promptly, so I thought I'd get a chapter in. so this chapter I dedicated to three people; my most thorough reviewer, Dana42; my best brainstormer and ideas man, Xfileslover777; and my awesome BETA and smile maker, Mrs. Dana K Mulder. I love you guys!! And I love every one of you guys who reads or reviews… I might be getting emotional here!.. Almost.**

**--------------**

_Beep_

Time flies when you're having fun…

_Beep_

Good things come to those who wait…

_Beep_

Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we may die…

'looks like bill went for the 'drink, drink and get high' approach…' scully thought as she stood in the bill's room with Mulder.

When the ambulance had arrived; scully went with Bill and Mulder took Monica and john home; He made it to the hospital only a few minutes after scully did, which meant he probably broke a few road rules.

The rest of scully's family were due any minute, but that felt like an eternity. Mulder stood next to her closely, one arms around her shoulder and his other hand holding hers. She was numb in every way, it hadn't clicked yet that her brother had nearly died. A combination of alcohol and ecstasy can do that to a person, you know.

Scully brought herself to reality, she actually now felt Mulder standing next to her, she felt his warmth and support radiating off of him. She turned to him;

"Mulder, I'm sorry about this… I didn't want to ruin you're birthday. You should have spent it with your parents, rather than have to deal with all this."

"Hey now hang on…" Mulder said softly, turning to face her; "you have nothing to be sorry about, today's been the best day of my life… ok, this may not be how I expected it to turn out; but everything happens for a reason. And as for my parent's…" he looked away from her, searching for an explanation, he turned back to her; "well, I don't think they care if I'm there or not. It's okay."

Scully groaned in sympathy and moved further into his arms, snuggling into his chest. She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his denim jacket; and felt her body relax itself. He held her tightly and rested his chin on her head; she liked it when he did that, it made her feel like she was supporting him in a way, it made her feel stronger and not so dependant.

They stood like that for a few more minutes, watching Bill's sleeping form. They heard a stampede of footsteps coming down the hall; they watched the door till Maggie scully ran through it, she was soon followed by William, Melissa and Charlie scully.

Maggie ran to Dana, who broke away from Mulder; "oh, Dana what happened?! How did you find him? Is he okay? What was he doing…?"

Scully cut her mother off; "mum! Calm down! The doctor says he's gonna be okay. Me and Mulder were at the park and we spotted him with some mates, he collapsed and his friends made a run for it; we didn't see them up close."

Maggie took in every one of scully's words; processing every bit of information she could. She took a very deep breath, William walked up and stood next to her, knowing what to expect. Maggie turned into her husbands waiting arms and sobbed.

Mulder had moved to stand with Melissa and Charlie, next to bill's bed. Charlie turned to Mulder, who picked him up off the ground and gave him a comforting hug. The room fell silent except for the muffled sobbing of Maggie and the beeping of heart monitor.

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By 11:30, Mulder called his parents and explained what had happened; as he suspected, they let him stay. Mulder had moved out into the hall, rather than admit he was getting emotional and let himself crumble, even slightly, in front of scully's family. He sat on one of the couch's elbows resting on his knees, staring at the floor.

A pair of feet appeared on the floor in front of him; he looked up to see William standing in front of him. Neither said anything as William sat down next to Mulder, sitting in as similar pose to Mulder. William sighed;

"The doctor says he'll be awake by tomorrow…" he sighed and shook his head; "I never expected something like this; none of us did. I don't know, maybe we weren't paying attention to him, if only-"

Mulder felt compelled to interrupt him, "sir, you can't play the 'what if' game; it's done and I think the best think now is to help him. He's gonna need your support, not your regrets…" Mulder might not have liked bill, but he was still human and still capable of compassion; even to an enemy.

William listened to him, amazed at Mulder's wisdom. He was seventeen and was wiser beyond even William's years. He nodded understandingly at Mulder. He sat up and leaned back on the couch, as if a great weight had been taken off of his shoulders. Mulder stayed where he was but turned his face towards William.

"I forgot to thank you fox,"

"You have nothing to thank me for, sir…"

"I do, for staying here and for being there for Dana, and for being there for junior too. We all appreciate it."

Mulder swallowed to relieve the lump in his throat. "sir, may I be entirely honest with you?"

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Bill is the last person I'm here for. I'm here to help out Dana and the rest of the family, but as for bill, well…"

"It's alright, I understand… I know Dana won't admit to needing anyone's help, she's too headstrong to do that…" Mulder chuckled slightly; "but I can guarantee you, she's glad you're here."

All Mulder could do was nod once. The room suddenly felt warm; not physically, but he felt as though he was talking to his own father; not a neglectful father, but a caring parent. He suddenly felt like he belonged in the family, like he was truly welcome.

-----------------

The next day, bill did wake up; he was embarrassed and distant. Mulder had come by with scully straight after school and stayed till late again. William kept his temper in check; he wasn't going to have a go at bill till he was strong enough to take it, because when William served it, he didn't hold back.

After another few days, scully began to notice that not once did Diana stop by. She never came and called upon her hospitalized boyfriend, and it made scully far angrier with her. Mulder spent nearly as much time at the hospital as scully did. He left only to get the family dinner, often Chinese. He studied in the waiting room with scully and watched the football matches with William. Bill didn't appreciate Mulder's constant presence as much as his family did. He felt conflicted with the emotions he was containing.

One afternoon, Monica stopped by to see Mulder and scully; but she brought a friend with her, a girl named Tara Middleton.

"Mulder, Dana, this is Tara; Tara is in my art class." Mulder and scully greet Tara warmly. Bill coughed from his bed; begging to be introduced. Monica pointed subtly to bill; "and the lump in the bed there is Dana's brother bill."

Tara walked up to bill's bed and shook his hand. Bill smiled back; "actually my name is William, but you can call me what ever you want." His cheeks tinged with embarrassment. The group he was to distracted to acknowledge saw his reaction; he was almost blushing. Even more funny was that Tara was blushing and smiling back.

As much as Monica would have loved to have stayed and watched, she had to take Tara home. "Come on Tara, we gotta get going."

"Huh… oh yeah." She turned back to bill. "It was really nice to meet you William…"

"Yeah, you too. I hope I get to see you at school…" he sighed contently.

"Me too." She smiled before she walked out the door with Monica.

Bill watched her leave and even leaned to the side to see further down the hall. He sighed silently and turned his attention back to a _very _amused, Mulder and scully. Scully was trying so hard to suppress a laugh she was on the verge of tears. Her dumbass of a brother was in love. Aww.

"What?"

------------------

Scully lay on her stomach on her bed, her journal open in front of her.

'_It's been a week since bill's been home. Needless to say; he's acting a lot better than before. It only took dad ten minutes after we came through the front door before he ripped into bill… oh boy, I never saw dad so mad! Bill won't say where he got the pills from, I don't reckon he ever will. As far as I know, he hasn't spoken to Diana yet. I dunno, I guess he's mad at her for not visiting him. That's okay, he's been pretty cheery the last few days; I saw him talking to Tara in the hallway. I've never seen him so nervous! He's changed pretty quickly though, any time someone says the name 'Tara', he smiles… it's so cute._

_But I reckon the scariest thing he's done that made me think he had a relapse or something, was when he turned around and said hi to Mulder. I actually thought he was on drugs again, it was that weird! _

_Mulder has been fantastic through all this, he's been there to listen and he tries really hard to make me laugh. He got so desperate as to stand on the bleachers and sing 'be happy' for me… it was sweet, thank god no one was around, though!_

Scully shut her journal as her mother popped her head through the bedroom door, the phone planted to her shoulder.

"Dana, Aunt Louisa and uncle mark are bringing the kids down tomorrow. They'll be staying with us for a few days… do you mind the girls staying in your room?"

Scully smiled and shook her head. She love it when her cousins came to stay, it made the house more fun and chaotic. Maggie nodded and closed the door, walking back down the stairs, still talking on the phone.

Scully absolutely loved her cousins to bits. There were four in all, two boys and twin girls. The oldest was Braydon, he was 10 and had wispy blonde hair, a tough little man, always getting dirty; then there was Trent, who was nine, exactly one month and one year younger than braydon. Trent was a sweet heart, the gentlest kid ever, he had soft spiky brown hair and was literally a snuggle bug.

Then there were the twins, they were 6 and both sandy blondes. Taniesha was first born; she was the little princess of the family, always in pink and was shy of everyone. Shaelea was technically the youngest, she was the tomboy, far stockier than her sister and wasn't a push over; but she was as cuddly as Trent.

Scully loved every minute with them, she would do anything for them. She would have loved for Mulder to meet them, she had no idea how he was around little kids. She'd seen him with Charlie, and he was great. Might as well wait and see.

--------------

Scully sat in her usual seat at the back of her English class, right next to Mulder. It took a few weeks, but scully had managed to recover her chair from Alex Krychek. She was excited about getting home, and as far as she could tell, Mulder was feeling pretty positive about meeting them too. The bell finally rang, and she and Mulder got up to leave.

"Miss scully, can I speak to you for a second?" Mr. Skinner called out just before she walked out the door.

"I'll meet you at the car…" Mulder said before he took her bag from her and kissed her cheek. She wandered up to Mr. Skinner's desk and waited for him to add up the marks on an assignment. Finally, he looked up at her;

"Take a seat…" scully sat in a chair opposite his desk. She was quietly panicking about what ever it was he was going to say. He took an assignment out of the pile he had already marked;

"I was very impressed with the creative assignment you submitted, miss scully. By far the most interesting and well written story I've seen in my 18 years of working as an English teacher. A fascinating plot, two FBI agents forced to work together despite their conflicting personalities… it certainly is different."

Scully sat in stunned silence as she absorbed her teacher's high praise. She never had to try when it came to creative writing, it just came naturally to her.

"Ah, thank you Mr. Skinner. I'm surprised to hear that..."

"I'm surprised you're talent hasn't been recognised before this;"

"Now that I can explain… I guess you could say I've been practicing. I started writing a specific type of stories and publishing online. It's just a hobby, but find it, I dunno, relaxing I guess. I didn't realise it would impact me that much…"

"Well whatever you're doing, keep it up, Dana."

Scully nodded and left the classroom, personally, she was overjoyed to find that she apparently could write well; she would never tell anyone, but she based the characters in her assignment on her and Mulder.

But she was being silly; her and Mulder as FBI agents… no way. That would have been a bit weird… or would it?

She came back to the real world when she walked out side and saw Mulder leaning against his dusty truck. He stood on his own weight when she reached him.

"You know Mulder, I think we're gonna have to wash that car of yours. How about we go to your house tonight after there kids go to bed, and we can clean it."

"You gonna wear you're bathers?" Mulder said as he pulled her against him and leaned back against the hood; sandwiched between scully and the car.

"Maybe…" Mulder's bottom lips dropped in a puppy dog pout, she rose up on her toes and whispered in his ear; "maybe not." She pulled back and saw mulder's pout had quickly been replaced with a cheesy grin.

She laughed and he laughed too. "Come on, we better get to your place… don't want to keep the kiddies waiting!" Scully shook her head as she continued to smile at him.

------------------

"What are you waiting for?" Mulder said as he stood behind scully. Her hand was on the front door knob but wasn't going any further. She puffed out a breath and looked up at him;

"You'll see…" she turned the handle and opened the door. "Hey guys! I'm home!"

Mulder looked around as he heard running foot steps coming from two directions. He saw four kids run into the room all at the same time, all yelling "Dana!"

Scully felt Mulder step back from her as Trent grabbed her around the waist. Taniesha and Shaelea grabbed a leg each and she only caught a glimpse of braydon before she felt him crawl up onto her back. They had gotten bigger since she had last them, she cried out dramatically; "timber!" before falling to her knees under her loss of balance, then flat onto her stomach because of the weight.

Mulder stood wide eyed as he watched these short; well, short compared to him; kids crawl excitedly over scully whilst she kissed and hugged them. Braydon looked at Mulder and pointed; "hey Dana; who's that?" Scully sat up with the girls in her lap, and Trent behind her;

"That's Mulder, my boyfriend. Say hello guys…" taniesha crawled behind scully, pushing Trent into the open. He went and stood next to his brother; who both folded their arms simultaneously. Shaelea just sat snuggled up to scully.

"Hi there." Mulder smiled nervously. He normally wasn't scared of kids; but the two boys stood looking at him with the most judgemental looks ever. They would have only come up just above his elbow, but he was the one who felt small right now.

"Get him!" braydon yelled; and before he knew it, Mulder had two excited, energetic boys climbing all over him. Thankfully, Mulder didn't fall down like scully had. Scully stood up and laughed loudly, the girls now holding her hands.

"Let's get them into the lounge room, Mulder." She headed for the lounge room, Mulder followed behind her with braydon on his shoulders and Trent stuck on his side; how he was staying there, Mulder didn't know. He found Maggie, bill and two other people, who Mulder assumed were the aunt and uncle scully had told him about. He dropped the boys on the couch and joined scully on the ground with the girls. Surprisingly, Shaelea came and sat down in his lap.

"Where are Charlie and missy?" Scully asked.

"Your dad has gone to pick them up from school." Maggie replied.

"Hey scully:" she turned to Mulder, "ain't you gonna introduce me to your aunt and uncle?"

"Oh yeah; Aunty Louisa, uncle mark, this is Fox Mulder… Mulder, this is Louisa and mark scully. Uncle Mark is my dad's brother."

"Hi fox." Louisa smiled sweetly. She was a short woman, about the same height as scully and had short born hair. She was a fairly stocky woman, but she had a pleasant countenance about her.

"Howdy fox." Mark half waved at him. He was pretty tall in contrast with his wife. His hair was very short and a dark bronze colour.

"Oh um, Mulder prefers being called by his last name." Scully made room for Trent to snuggle up next to her.

They heard a car pull up onto the front lawn and then the front door opening, then shutting.

"Oh! That must be Charlie and missy!" scully said nonchalantly. All the little kids left the room and ran out into the hall, probably to repeat the drama Mulder had witnessed.

-----------------

The sun sat low along the horizon, casting a golden glow over the grassy backyard. All the boys, bill included; and scully, were running around in the backyard with a football. The boys had no need to go easy on scully, she may have been small, but she was fast and quick on her toes.

The twins were on the couch, absolutely absorbed in 'beauty and the beast' that was playing on the TV.

Maggie sat in the kitchen with Louisa, both sipping a cup of black tea.

"So tell me more about Dana's boyfriend?" Louisa asked between sips.

"Fox? He's a bit unusual; I will admit. But after Dana's run in with that cheerleader and her relationship with her last boyfriend…"

"Ethan wasn't it?" Louisa said. Maggie nodded. She often talked to Louisa over the phone, gossiping mostly.

"Yes. That's the one. I could tell fox liked Dana; probably before she did. But fox has impressed me so many times; he seems to behave with more sense than a normal teenager does, but at the same time, he behaves like any 17 year old boy in love."

"How so?"

"Well when Dana broke her rib, fox was here nearly every day." She tapped her finger on the table top, expressing her point. "And when Dana was with that Ethan kid, Melissa tells me he was pretty miserable; but never left Dana's side. Now after this thing with bill… fox was still there for Dana."

"Wow, does he spend much time at home?"

"I suspect his parents are the kind that is never around. I feel a bit sorry for him, and William and Charlie like him, so we love having him around here. The only thing that worries me is the obvious fact that he is _17 years old_. You know what boys are like at that age; I just don't want them to do any thing stupid…" she shook her head and took a mouthful of her tea.

"Do you think he's pressuring her? But then again, if he was… Dana wouldn't be with him."

"They've be seeing each other for around two months… no, I don't think he is. And you're right; if he was, Dana would have gotten rid of him along time ago. I'm just so paranoid… he's so well behaved that he's almost not real. I feel sorry about his home life and am so tempted to invite him to stay over; but I'm worried about what would, or could happen."

"I think the one thing that would _definitely _happen is that he and Dana will be forced to make a decision like adults. If something happens, they will deal with it like the adults they are not far away from being. If not; you are blessed with a very wise daughter who has herself been blessed with an excellent partner."

Maggie stared at her sister in law, her chin balancing in her hand as she leaned on the table. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" She asked bewildered.

"Simplify the issues that are so complicated and throw in a whole bunch of good advice in between?" She said admiringly.

Louisa smiled. "I dunno, I guess I'm preparing myself for when my four are all teenagers, all at the same time. I can see it now… the twins will start liking boys when they're 13 and the boys; being the older brothers, and being scully's; will fight off any boy that looks at them."

The women laughed as the crowd came inside, all tired from running around. They all took off their shoes and trudged off into the lounge room, the ladies watched as a very tired Mulder carried an almost sleeping scully on his back.

Once they were alone again Louisa turned to Maggie; "he seems pretty real to me… give him a chance, he'll probably surprise you."

Maggie sighed into her cup, contemplating the risks of letting Mulder stay over. She decided.

-------------------

The kids went to bed at 8 and by 10; scully was nearly asleep on mulder's shoulder as they sat on the couch. The family watched him as he excused himself, picked her up off the couch and carried her in his arms up the stairs.

Maggie turned to her husband; "William, I don't thing I want fox driving home; being as tired as he is. Do you think we should let him stay over tonight?"

Nobody commented or made any gestures, not wanting to impart an opinion. Even bill kept quite, although he looked a little panicky. William considered his wife's question. She would have suggested it if she hadn't thought about it first. Obviously she was okay with it. "I guess that would be okay. We'd have to let him stay in bill's room."

"He cant stay in my room…" everyone glared at bill. He hesitated and said; "well, the boys are asleep in my room… they didn't want to sleep in a girls room."

"Yeah, and the girls are asleep in my room. They have more floor space there than in Dana's room." Melissa said sleepily as she rested her head on her knees that were tucked into her chest.

"Well I guess that leaves…" Maggie began.

"Dana's room." William finished. They looked at their two eldest children for their opinions. Melissa shrugged. She didn't care; she knew Dana wasn't going to do anything with Mulder. They all looked at bill.

Bill raised his hands; "hey, I don't like the idea; but I'm gonna stay out of this one!" Everyone was surprised by his reaction.

"Okay, then. I guess fox sleeps on Dana's floor."

------------------

Mulder sat on scully's bed as he tucked her in. "so much for washing the car…" he smiled.

She looked up sleepily at him, whilst she played with his fingers. "Sorry, but we had fun didn't we?"

"Yeah, I like watching you playing with your cousins. I reckon you would make a pretty good mum" he said as he ran his finger along her jaw line.

"You weren't so bad yourself; you'd make a great daddy." Mulder felt warm at this comment, he wasn't ready for it yet; but maybe in ten or twenty years, he wanted to have some kids.

"Yeah, well I'll be honest scully, I want kids; but not yet. I wanna get a wife and a career first…"

"In that order?"

"I certainly hope so… and If we're still together in the future… you might be that person." He leant over and kissed her forehead.

She giggled; "why, Mulder; is that a proposal?" she mentally slapped herself for saying that. 'You've only known him for half a year and now you're planning the rest of your life with him?! Get a grip Dana!' she thought uncomfortably.

"Consider it an advisement of what could happen in our future." He leaned his weight on her as he nuzzled into her neck playfully. His warm breath tickled her and she giggled.

He pulled away from her and kissed her on the lips; "I guess I better go then…" he said between kisses. Scully moaned an 'mm hm' into his mouth. Sadly, he got off her and walked out the door; not before, "night scully," and gave her a wink. He walked down the stairs; stretching his arms as he went.

William met him at the base of the stairs. Mulder yawned; "I bedda get goin', I guess"

"Fox, it's not safe to drive home when you're this tired. I think you better stay over night."

"Have you got room for me? I'd hate to be a burden on you, especially when you have guest."

"No burden at all fox, but there is one thing… there's only one room we have with enough space for you to sleep in…"

"I don't mind, put me on the kitchen counter if that's what works best for you…" he yawned again.

"Actually we were going to put you in Dana's room."

Mulder stopped halfway through his yawn. He wasn't sure how to respond to an offer like that. "Um, that works too… I'll sleep on the floor… obviously, um… yeah." 'How do you respond to a statement like that?!?!' Mulder thought.

"Good, I trust you. Now I'm go get the mattress I'll have Maggie get you a blanket and pillow… do you have a spare change of clothes?"

"Yeah, I got my basketball gear in my truck, that'll do me." William simply nodded and went to the lounge room. Mulder ran out to his truck and grabbed his gear. He couldn't help feel he was in a very good place, 'I trust you...' William's words replayed in his head. It was unusual to have some one place so much faith and confidence in him. Once again, Mulder's parents were out of town for the week, so he didn't need to call them.

---------------

Mulder wandered back inside and stopped outside of scully's room. Maggie came out and looked at him; "at least try and stay in your own bed."

'Try' Mulder thought cheekily, "I promise Mrs. Scully." The look she gave him said 'I know what you're thinking, young man…'

She left him, he snuck into scully's room. She was asleep, her hair thrown across her face and her arm hanging off the bed. He smiled and went into her bathroom to change. He came out five minutes later; he looked at his bed on the floor. "nu-uh, we gotta fix that…" he put his clothes near his bed and went and pushed his mattress across till it was right next to scully's bed.

He switched off the bedroom light and settled himself into his bed. He held scully's hand as it rested against his shoulder. He fell asleep quickly as he listened to the sound of his breathing blend with scully's.

--------------

_I walk around my apartment in my boxer, it's messy. I look over at the fish tank in the corner, the fish are asleep… I didn't know fish slept. I'm sleepy too; I reckon I might take a nap… _

_I walk over to my sofa and lie down on it. I pull my blanket over my body. Wow, I must be like, thirty with those kinds of pecks! Wahoo!_

_I start to doze; when all of a sudden, a thirty year old scully jumps out from behind my couch; "I WANT YOUR BABY Mulder!" She screams._

_I am now VERY awake; "scully?! What the hell are you doing in my apartment?!" I say as I hold my blanket close to my chest, scared like a naked woman._

"_I WANT YOU!.. I WANT TO BARE YOUR CHILDREN!..." I scrunch my knees up to my chest in fear; "I KNOW YOU WANT IT TOO!"_

_I bring the blanket up to my nose; she's crawling closer to me on the couch with the most evil look on her face. "Who are you and what have you done with my scully?!"_

"_I AM your scully!.. Make me yours!! She says as she crawls under my blanket and disappears._

_I look frantically under the blanket for her, "scully?!" I see her; she pops her head out from under the blanket with a sexy grin on her face._

"_Yeeesssssssss?" She replies seductively._

_I think about this. Hmm, if this is a dream…_

"_Pinch me, I must be dreaming." She smiles and disappears under the blanket. I don't feel any pain, but I know where she pinched me._

"_Hey scully, careful on the goods." She giggles from under the blanket. I smile and slide under to join her._

_----------------_

_The dream changes, now I'm watching what looks like an even older version of myself sitting on the same couch I was about to get snugly with scully on. _

_A little girl runs into the room, her red hair flow and her green eyes glisten. "Daddy! Daddy!" she yells as she jumps into his arms, well, my arms I guess._

"_What is it missy?" 'I' say as the girl cuddles up to me._

"_Mommy says awien's aren't real!" He chuckles._

"_of course they are sweetie!" He says as he cuddles her. My attention is drawn away as scully, or a far older version of her walks in, she has a rubber duck in her hand; I know that duck, it's the one I gave her. She leans against the doorframe; she looks at me._

"_Mulder…"_

_I look at future me and missy, the don't look. I look back at scully;_

"_Mulder…" she moans again._

_---------------------_

"Mulder…"

Mulder woke up at the sound of his name. He thought about the dreams he'd had. The first was definitely hormones, but somewhere in the base of his stomach, he hoped the second dream was a vision of the future.

"Mulder…" he heard his name groaned again.

"Yeah scully?" He whispered, his eyes were still closed.

"Don't stop Mulder, don't stop…" scully moaned.

Mulder's eyes snapped open; he sat up in his bed and looked at scully. She was still asleep and was smiling very contently. Mulder's jaw dropped open when the reality hit him; scully was dreaming about him. From the sound of it, it was a good dream. He put his hand on her cheek, her eyes opened slightly; she smiled wider and brought her hands up and around his neck. He carefully pulled her down from her bed onto his with wanting to wake her up any further. Her blanket came with her and she lay down on top of his blanket. Two different blankets separated them, but Mulder felt very close to her right now. She snuggled her nose into his chest and fell back to sleep; if she was awake in the first place.

As unusual as this day had turned out, at that moment, Mulder felt that the second dream he had had about having a family with scully; was now an extreme possibility.

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**Okay… phew. 6 hours work, but there it is. Review please, now I;m gonna go update 2012, then just kiddin', school tomorrow… BAH! Review pretty please!!**

**PS: which fight do you want to see first: bill Vs Krychek, or, Diana Vs melissa? Lemme know**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I said it before and I'll say it again, I still don't own them…

Summary: scully gives Mulder a gift. We finally meet his parents and Mulder makes a promise to himself and to scully. Yes, there will be a scuffle, it was hard to decide who it would be between but I surrendered to the influence of my reviewers. Bill deserves to be human, and I'm all for animal rights, so I'm gonna let him enjoy some happiness too.

A/note: OK, again I apologize for not updating as soon as I could, as I said before, my computer malfunctioned, to the max. So I'm in cybertronic poverty right now. Amazingly enough, I've actually found a way to end this story, rather than have it continue on forever. Don't worry, that's not for a while, for now I will continue to write the story and enjoy the characters. Shame on me for not writing the story I promised tashy… I'm sorry. But this story will actually end at the beginning of the show. As always, let the show go on.

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Maggie woke abruptly. She carefully looked over her shoulder at her sleeping husband who was curled up behind her. These moments were the ones she treasured the most; a house full of family and friends, William sleeping next to her, and everything being relatively peaceful. The sun wasn't up yet, but there was a blue haze in the sky, so it wasn't long till sunrise.

A thought nagged at her; and she couldn't resist investigating for herself. She ever so carefully, wriggled out of her husbands grasp around her waist and slid out of bed. She neatly folded the blankets back so William wouldn't get cold and notice her gone. He loved sleep-ins, she didn't normally; but she enjoyed them when he was home.

She picked up her fluffy white robe from the end of the bed and shuffled out the door into the dim hallway.

She stopped outside scully's bedroom. She sighed and quietly pushed the door open a little. What she found was admittedly, not what she expected. Dana was on the floor with Mulder, two blankets may separate the sleeping figures, but they looked very close as they lay with their arms wrapped tightly around one another. She suppressed a chuckle. Fox had kept his promise; he had stayed in his own bed.

She slipped back into the hall and shut the bedroom door. She was now assured; Louisa was right, she had been blessed.

Maggie wandered back to her room and slipped into the bathroom and took a quick shower. By the time she came out, the sun was up and William was stretching in his bed. They both went downstairs and found all four of their nieces and nephews, and Charlie, on the floor in front of the TV, watching beauty and the beast, again.

"Why don't you guys go wake up everybody else?" William suggested. The kids needed no further encouragement. They were gone, thumping their way excitedly back up the stairs."

After a few moments, Charlie came back down the stairs with Melissa in one hand and bill in the other. They lifted him up and let him jump down the stairs, swinging on their arms as he did.

---------------------

Scully drifted in that space between sleeping and awake, the one place where rationality and logic was nonexistent, which for scully; was a place she rarely inhabited. She dreamt of Mulder last night, perhaps a little bit more passionately than normal; but a pleasant dream none the less. She could recall the dream so vividly that even in sleepy awareness she can swear that she can still smell him.

Her firm pillow moved beneath her head. How dare her pillow move?! Since when did she give it permission to do so? Bad pillow, bad! She lazily hit the pillow to get it stop moving. It jumped beneath her. Scully snapped her eyes open. She had now crossed into the waking world, and lifted her eyes to see red and black beneath her cheek.

'Wasn't my pillow blue last night?' her logic inquired. She now understood; why her pillow had sprouted arms, why she could smell Mulder's musky scent, and why her bed had shrunk to floor level. He was on the floor next to her bed, and she was cured up next to him. Had he not gone home last night?

She remembered falling asleep on his shoulder, but beyond that she remembered nothing more. She considered the situation, and decided that this was a good place to be. She snuggled further into his side and tried to fall back to sleep.

Mulder was aware that scully was awake. He wondered what her reaction would be. He remembered the dreams he had had last night. They raised questions that Mulder hadn't even thought of. He always knew that the best of relationships were based on deep friendship. He wanted to do all he could for her, but he understood; to be a better boyfriend, a better partner, he would need to be a better friend. If he needed to take a step back to take a greater step forward, he would.

Yes, he was afraid. He feared not being good enough for her. That his past may come back to haunt him, and her in the process. He wanted to be worth her, be her equal. She always treated him as such, but he wanted to get his footing before he took a step forward.

Reluctantly, Mulder tried to wriggle out from Scully's grasp. The only thing he achieved was waking her up further. He lifted his head to look at her.

"Morning…" he smiled.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why didn't you go home last night?" She mumbled.

"Your dad didn't let me. And this was the only room free, luckily for me." He whispered the last bit, as if they were being watched.

Scully went to speak but paused and frowned slightly, turning her head towards the door; listening intently. Then Mulder heard it too. Footsteps. Mulder could have made money guessing who it was running along the hall towards scully's bedroom. His suspicions were confirmed when the door flew open and granted access to four, pajama covered, well rested children. They were soon bombarded and jumped on. The kids didn't give in till they were guaranteed that both Mulder and scully were awake and coming out to breakfast.

Eventually Mulder and scully gave in and were virtually dragged downstairs to the kitchen. Mulder stayed for breakfast and left at 8 o'clock. He had promised scully that they would wash his truck, and she didn't let him forget it. He promised to take her after school and they would wash it and do their homework afterwards.

------------------

Mulder drove down his street and hit the breaks harder than usual when he spotted his fathers car in the driveway. They weren't due back till Saturday, and it was only Wednesday. Great. He pulled up on the curb and trudged up to the front door. He slipped into the foyer and ditched his bag next to the couch.

"Fox? Is that you?" He heard his mother call from the dining room.

She walked into the room before Mulder replied. "Yeah mum. How was your trip?" He inquired inexpressively. He didn't really care too much, but it was part of the routine. He knew why his dad was always away, but he wasn't sure about his mother. The only reason he could think of, was because she didn't want to be there with him. It was silly, but that's how it looked.

"Good. Where were you last night? You're father and I were worried…" she trailed bluntly.

"At my girlfriends place. You know, Dana scully, my girlfriend of two months?" he said it more sarcastically than intended, but didn't really care.

Tina Mulder knew he was moody, he hadn't exactly seen them much lately. "Yes, I know Dana. I'd like to meet her though. You should invite her around." She turned and headed towards the kitchen, hoping her son would follow her. He didn't.

"Will you be home to meet her?" he asked curiously.

Tina turned and walked right up to Mulder. He was slightly taller than her. 'When did that happen?' she thought. Guilt filled her and she realized how little she knew about her now, only child. "Fox, I'm sorry. I promise you that I will be around more often."

Mulder may have hated how his parents were never around, but he didn't hate them. He wanted to believe his mother, but he had trouble in doing so. He knew it would be difficult to reestablish the bond he once had with his mother, but if she was willing to try; he wouldn't deny either of them the chance. "Ok mum… I gotta get ready for school, but I'll bring scully round tonight."

He was caught off guard when his mother nodded and smiled warmly. Mulder went to walk up the stairs to his room. "Hey mum…" he walked back to the base of the staircase, "where's dad?" he half whispered.

"The office, dear." She replied in equal intensity before heading back into the dining room.

Mental note: avoid the office. Mulder wandered slowly down the corridor towards his bedroom. He almost made it when the door to the office opened and his father stepped out. There was tension, and it was uncomfortable. Mulder would have been quite happy to have avoided his father, but was unsuccessful.

"Hello sir, do you enjoy your trip away?" he mumbled quietly.

"Yes I did." There wasn't much to be said, but his father felt obligated to make conversation. "Where were you last night?" he asked accusingly.

Mulder felt that he had no choice but to be entirely honest with his father. It seemed to make the conversation flow more easily. "I was at my girlfriend's house; her father wouldn't permit me to drive home at such a late hour. So I stayed at their place, sir" Mulder shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"I see… I suppose you have school?" he said proudly.

"Yes sir."

His father simply grunted and pushed past him and continued down the corridor. Mulder turned and watched his father walk away. Mulder made a promise to himself then and there; and perhaps maybe even scully whilst he was at it.

'If I had a son, I would be there for him… No matter what.'

Mulder turned and headed to his bedroom. He quickly changed and grabbed his school gear, the stuff he needed to clean his truck with and of course, his Cube; which he never went anywhere without. He slammed the door shut on his way out and Jogged down the staircase. He didn't bother to say goodbye to his parents, he simply grabbed his bag, and made sure he didn't slam the front door.

He threw his stuff in his truck and sat for a moment.

"No matter what… I would always be there for my son." He said aloud. It was set in stone now and nothing would stop Mulder from keeping his promise.

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The Day continued as every other day did. Mulder sat next to scully in biology as he always had, copying notes from the board. Scully could sense that something was bothering Mulder, but she knew that asking him about it, would only make him withdraw even further. She was patient, and it paid off when Mulder passed a folded piece of paper along the table to her;

My mom and dad are home. Mom wants to meet you. You wanna stop by after school?

Scully was a little shocked by the statement, but she quickly and eagerly replied.

Heck yeah! I'd love to meet your mum!! Before or after we wash the truck??

Mulder smiled at her child like enthusiasm. He glanced at her shook his head mockingly.

'Before, I guess'

Scully nodded an 'mm hm' at him and went back to work. She had her silly moments, but always kept them in moderation.

-------------------

Unfortunately, Mulder forgot he had detention at lunch time. So when lunch came around, scully decided to eat with Melissa. Monica and john were on an excursion for physics. Paintball had a lot to do with projectile motion, apparently. Melissa didn't mind having Dana hanging around with her; just as long as it didn't become a habit. Scully didn't intrude much; she spent most of the time talking to Tara, who sat at the same table.

Scully was enjoying herself far more than she anticipated. Tara was quite a nice girl; she came from a stable family and seemed quite bright. Scully couldn't help but grow slightly attached to her. She also noted that Tara often looked over at bill's table. How cute it was; that she also often caught bill looking at them too.

The bell went and she, Melissa and Tara were still talking away about random things. They grabbed their bags and began heading towards the cafeteria doors, but suddenly; Tara was knock over onto the floor. Scully and Melissa turned to see Diana with Alex krychek and a large group of girls standing over Tara. Scully and Melissa went straight over to help her up off the ground.

Scully turned and looked Diana in the eyes; "what'd you do that for!?" she yelled angrily. She quickly observed exactly how red Diana's eyes looked. She saw that krychek's were no different. No way.

"I saw that little tart making eyes at my boyfriend!" Diana growled down at scully. A crowd had quickly formed and the atmosphere was tense. Tara rubbed her elbow and looked confusedly at bill, who had made his way to the front of the crowd. Diana hadn't noticed him yet so he said nothing, for the time being.

"Since when have you given a damn about my brother?! He was in hospital, and not once did you drop by to see him!" Melissa said as she pushed past scully and stood toe-to-toe with Diana. Good thing they were the same height.

"I care about bill…" Diana said nonchalantly.

"Only when you want something." Scully added from Melissa's side.

Diana looked past Melissa and glared at scully. She turned her puffy eyes back to Melissa; "your bitch of a sister is crazy; I have a go at you and fox, and she goes psycho, then your little pet starts eyeing of my new boy-toy… damn, I was right, you are in a messed up family."

That was all it took. That one phase and Melissa's fist connected with Diana's nose. There was a sickly crunch and all hell broke loose. Scully and Tara had to restrain Melissa and bill had to step in to keep Diana's back-up crowd from pummeling his sisters. It took a lot of effort and swearing, but eventually the girls got away. Bill tackled krychek to the ground to keep him from going after them. It was a harsh fist fight between the two. Krychek was punching anything he touched, but his aim was off. Bill took him out in one solid punch to his jaw.

Some teachers had moved in to stop the fighting but by the time they got there, all they found were Alex and Diana laying on the floor. The crowd had quickly dispersed and Bill had fled. At this school, watching a fight was as bad as being involved.

----------------------

Melissa, Tara, Scully and Bill decided to skip the last lesson. They sat together up on bleacher by the sports oval and tried to wrap their heads around the situation. A lot of things needed to be confronted; most of which, was uncomfortable to talk about.

"Bill? It was Diana wasn't it? She gave you the drugs, didn't she?" Scully whispered.

Bill didn't say anything, but eventually; he nodded. Melissa sighed in disappointment. Bill spoke "look, I was an idiot okay. I'm off them now and I am totally over Diana. Okay?!" He was angry. He knew he had no right to be, but he was.

"Hey Dana?" Tara mumbled nervously.

"Yeah Tara?"

"Was that true? That Diana started that fight between you and her at the start of the year?"

Scully nodded. Bill looked as though he'd been slapped across the face with a wet fish. "Why didn't you-" then he clicked; she had tried to tell him. He just didn't listen. Wow, did he feel like an ass right now…

The silence was awkward, but necessary. They spent the remainder of the day simply talking. As the school day drew to a close, scully left with Melissa, she broke off from her sister and went to the other end of the bleachers to see her three nerdy saviors. Bill wouldn't let Tara leave without speaking to her first; he grabbed her hand on the way down to the grass.

"Tara, I'm sorry that you had to get involved in all this. I do like you… a lot. But if it means you could get hurt in one way or another…" he paused under the strain of such open honesty. "I, I just can't let that happen to you." They were on the grass in front of the bleachers. Bill went to let go of her hand; to let go of her entirely, but she stopped him.

"Look, bill; I know you're far from perfect. I know you have a temper and you expect a lot from some people." She lowered her tone "people like your sister… but I see it differently."

Bill frowned in confusion.

"I know you care for those close to you and hate to see them get hurt, and I know you see the best in people and don't want them to disappoint themselves… but what I know best; is that you don't want to walk away from me…"

"I don't…" it was true. He found someone who saw him and accepted him. He wanted to get to know her as well as she knew him. That is, if; god forbid, she would let him.

"But what you certainly didn't know is" she smiled at his raised eyebrow "that I don't want to walk away from you either."

Bill did a small double take. She liked him? She liked his protectiveness and emotional exaggeration?! "Then shall we walk away from all this together?"

Tara squeezed his hand tightly in confirmation. Wow, he was a lucky bugger.

-----------------

Mulder pulled up in his driveway and walked up to the front door. Scully had updated him on what happened at lunch. It was bound to happen, though. Scully was obviously, to the trained eye, very excited to be meeting Mulder's parents. As soon as Mulder turned the engine off, scully was halfway out the door.

"Excited much?" Mulder smiled as he watched her try to maintain her calm. She wasn't bouncing off the walls or anything, but he could see her anxiousness. She stopped bobbing up and down. She looked down at her scribbled-on converses and back up at him, her hands on her hips.

"I'm just curious, that's all." Mulder swaggered up to her and stood toe to toe, his hands in his pockets. She lifted her chin to look him in the eye.

Mulder bit his lip and nodded. "Okay then," he turned and lifted a hand in a welcoming gesture towards his house. "Let's go meet the in-laws…" as soon as he said it, he felt like he shouldn't have. Scully simply raised an eyebrow and headed with him towards the front door. 'Ease up turbo!' Mulder thought to himself. He was finding it hard to slow down, because lately, all he wanted to do was lift her of the ground and pin her to a wall…

"Mulder? You okay?" Scully asked as she reached for his hand. His face was bright red and for the life of her; she couldn't guess why. She was nervous, not that she would ever say it aloud. He gulped and took her small hand in his. He opened the front door and they stepped inside.

"Mum?!" Mulder called through the house. There was no initial response, but eventually they heard her.

"Lounge room dear!" She called. Scully gave him a glance then walked confidently ahead and into the lounge room. All Mulder could do was follow.

Mrs. Mulder was in a cheery mood, and warmly greet scully. She looked at the petite red-head before her and tried to make a fair assessment. This young girl was polite and well spoken, which she easily approved of. They sat in conversation for some time, most of which Mulder observed in silence. Of the three, he was by far the most anxious. After a little more than an hour had passed when Mulder finally spoke up to remind Dana that they were going to go wash his mud-covered truck. Dana happily shook her hand again and she watched her son and Dana leave the room.

Once she heard the heavy vehicle pull out from the drive way, Tina got up from the lounge and lightly wandered upstairs. She opened up the office door and found her husband; as usual, working away on his computer. She went to the small armchair in the corner of the room and sat down.

"I just met fox's girlfriend."

Mr. Mulder turned around on his office chair and rested his hands in his lap; urging her to continue.

"She's quite a nice girl. Very clever and level headed, I think she'd be good for fox. I think I prefer this one to his previous attachments."

"What's her name, again?"

"Dana scully."

Mr. Mulder pondered a little. The name was familiar to him, but he let it pass. "She comes from a good family?"

"Certainly sounds like it, she tells me that her father is in the navy. I think you should actually meet her too. She seems a bit shy."

Mr. Mulder nodded and turned back to his computer. Tina sighed and left him. She stepped out into the corridor and walked past Samantha's old bedroom. Many memories came to her. Some were joyful; like when fox used to run around with Sam on his back, or when she helped her make choc chip cookies. Some, were more painful, like the horrible pain she felt when she discovered her missing. But there were other thoughts that plagued her mind, like her origin and her disappearance.

Those were the ones that haunted her, and kept her away from this town. The ones that kept her away from her ever growing son. But mostly, kept her from facing an awful truth…

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Well, that was one of the longer I have written. Next chapter is a fiddly one, but I'm gonna have to do it some time. I'm gonna go write my new story; 'the devil on my shoulder', yes tashy, I'm gonna write it for ya. :o) but first: lets get this chapter uploaded and get a copy of all the stories I've written!! (My computer is like newborn, I don't have any stories, or piccy's, or vids…depressed now *pouts*)

Next chapter… I think it's time for some shameless shipping and UST. Don't blame me; blame my devil-on-the-shoulder-Mulder! As always, reviews are VERY welcome and greatly appreciated!


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: just checked my emails; nothing from CC of fox networks saying they are giving me mulder and scully, so I guess I still don't own them…**

**Summary: chucking in some stuff for the end of this story, but that's still a little while off. Uh… oh yeah, Mulder and scully play some baseball (not totally predictable, be warned) and Mulder Snr. Is up to sneaky stuff. And Christmas is coming!! But Christmas eve/day is next chapter. Apologies for the cliffhangers. It will become clear. I promise.**

**A/note: I have enough trouble keeping up with assignments, let alone revision. So unfortunately, schoolwork comes first and my updating will be even less frequent as the year goes. We'll see. Dedi… tashy (MrsDKM), rikki, leachy, Dana42, XFbabe, Julia (PMD), smartiepants, Emily (DalekAvion), these are the ones I can name specifically for their contributions; but, of course, I don't forget you… :OD shame on me if I did.**

**Also I do what my English teacher would call, 'a forewarning of events.' Where I imply an event in the future. And maybe I did a Kathy Reich's as well. If you know how she writes, you'll understand. **

**------------**

Mulder drove down the highway quickly, eager to get to the fields and get the soap out and clean his disgracefully muddy truck. He couldn't deny that seeing scully in a bikini was a pretty big motivator either. Scully was quite, reflective almost. He had trouble reading her a lot of the time. She was like a beautiful book of poetry written in another language.

"How long are your relatives staying for?" he asked, determined to break the silence.

Scully looked at him as if she were in a daze. "They're staying with us for Christmas, and then leaving the day after."

Oh yeah, it was Christmas in two weeks. The event had become less meaningful since Samantha had disappeared. They had tried to celebrate the occasion, but her absence made it more mournful than anything.

"Well I'm kinda disappointed now," he said, trying to avoid the Christmas conversation. Scully gave him a look of inquiry.

"Those kids are starting to grow on me." He smiled as he left the paved rode and started down a dirt track.

Scully couldn't deny that her cousins wished for her to marry Mulder, just so they would see more of him. They always asked when they would see him next when they went to bed. It was understandable, although he was a bit standoffish around little kids; he easily attached himself to them, and they to him.

She intended to get Mulder something for Christmas. Nothing extravagant; but perhaps something sentimental or inspirational. She had an idea, but wasn't sure how he would take it.

The truck deviated from the dirt track and through a gap in the fence line and onto the field. They drove over it and down to a small creek that lined the grassy plain. Mulder stopped the truck between two trees and paused a bit before getting out.

He finally got out, as did she. She felt her feet touch down on the soft fleshy grass. So soft, so glassy. It was like living silk under her toes. The sun was quite warm; it was like the heat was raining on her skin.

"I've never been here before… how often do you come here?" she asked as she leant over the bonnet of the truck. Mulder was digging through the backseat.

His head popped up from the other side. Gosh, he was tall, he could see straight over the top. "When I was little, I came here all the time by my self. I didn't even let Samantha come with me, she always asked to; but I always said no." he tipped a bucket for of cleaning gear onto the grass and headed towards the creek. She followed;

"It's just a random thing I did. Sometimes I would come down on my bike in the early hours of the morning, or late at night." He swung the bucket at his side carelessly.

"What did you do?" she asked. They walked side-by-side with out touching.

"Watched stars, Tried to count them heaps of times. Followed the satellites or something. I learnt a lot out here." He stopped in front of the bank of the clear, pure-looking waters. He sat down and put the bucket behind him, then folded his hands together in his lap. She sat down a little behind him, just beyond his sight. "Then after Sam went, I found myself here virtually every night. Trying to sort myself out, I guess." The sunlight no longer danced over their skin, but the silence that followed certainly did.

She trailed the tips of her fingers along his back. He couldn't feel the cotton of his shirt, just the comfort she was radiating to him. "Come on Mulder, let's get dirty…"

He gave her a sudden and cheeky look. He waggled his eyebrows. "Don't you mean clean?"

"If you insist." She smiled at him. She stood and left his side.

'How did I fall for that?' Mulder mocked. He shook his head and got up off the bank. He watched her quick pace, her oversized blue shirt moving with her. She was in no rush, but she always walked quickly. He picked up the bucket and filled it with the naturally crystal water, and walked back to her.

She had a sponge in one hand, and her blue t shirt in the other. Her board shorts matched her two-piece perfectly.

"Ready?" she smirked.

"Let's get it on." He smirked back. Ooh, this would be fun.

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Christmas was on Saturday this year, and Mulder was invited to join them on Friday night and Christmas lunch.

Scully sat on the lounge, her notebook on her lap and Trent snuggled into her side, not as absorbed in Mary poppins as he was. She scribbled paragraphs into her book, pausing only to tap her pencil against her knee or answer her young cousin whenever he spoke to her. Sometimes she stopped and gave him a pat across his head.

"When do we see fox next?" he asked, without looking away from the television.

"If you want, I can bring him with us tonight."

"That sounds good…" the movie finished and scully blindly hit stop and rewind. Trent sat on the couch and crossed his legs. "Watchya writin' about?" He asked, trying to look at the notebook.

"Just a story."

"About who?"

Scully sighed, her cousin was rather inquisitive. "About a misfit. Someone who will not conform to the dictation of modern society. A teenage girl that can't be categorised or labelled. She is very stubborn and always trying to get a greater understanding of the world she is forced to live in"

Trent looked confused. He had tried to follow her but was lost after she had said 'conform'.

She smiled. He had the brains, but not the knowledge. "Ok, she's an oddball and a bit of a rebel. She stands out and likes to know how things work."

He mouthed and 'aaahh' of understanding. "What's her name?"

Scully hadn't expected that. She didn't think he would take an interest in her hobbies; being as young as he was.

"**L**aura **S**mith. She's seventeen and lives in the country."

Beyond that, his interest was lost. "Don't forget to invite fox tonight." He said as he wriggled off the couch.

"I won't" she said as she watched her short little cousin head outside. She drew her attention back to her notebook;

'_having moved to a better school at the start of her senior year, she found that she lacked some skills and knowledge in mathematics and physics. She wouldn't survive. Her stubbornness infuriated her teachers. Her physics teacher, mentor and friend of many years, Mr Boydel, always offered to help. She may respect him, but a lot of the time he drove her up the wall; although she'd never admit it._

_She was doomed to waste this year and continue for a second year in 2010. This year may as well not happen at all.'_

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Mulder walked down to the park with his 'fine piece of ash' resting on his shoulder. He didn't feel like driving tonight, he actually asked his father to pick him up later. Even more surprisingly, his father agreed.

He entered the open, grassy park and spotted scully and her family waiting there. They were all there; Scully, Bill, Melissa, Charlie, William, Maggie, the four kids, scully's aunt and uncle. Heck, Tara and Monica and John were there too. This was more than simply a family gathering. This was more than an evening out or a night on the town. Oh no, this, _this…_ was baseball.

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Sixteen in all. Well, fourteen really. The twins were too young to understand the rules. So they paired up into two teams. Just to make it interesting the girls went on one team, including bill, just to keep it even, and the remaining men on the other.

Boys were first to bat. The flip of the coin had Mulder as the first batsman.

As random as the coin could be random, it could also be cruel. Scully was first pitcher.

Mulder was confused by the snorts and warning looks everyone gave him. Melissa made an 'oooh' sound, as if looking at a fresh wound. Bill simply smiled and shook his head at Mulder.

Bill took his place behind Mulder and put a helmet on his head, waiting for scully to throw the ball.

With a sweep of arrogance Mulder took up his bat, "okay, scully. Bring it on home. Show me what you got!" He couldn't help but laugh a little. He ignored the fact that everyone was looking at him like he was an ignorant fool.

"I'd be careful Mulder, she throws pretty hard." Bill whispered.

Mulder turned around and said perhaps a bit too loudly; "bill. I got a lot of respect for her, but I doubt she can beat my swing."

He went to turn back, but saw something fly very quickly past his nose. Very close to his nose actually, he could have sworn he felt the air brush him.

His eyes widened. He turned the rest of the way and looked at his girlfriend. Oh boy. Yep, he was an ignorant fool.

His arrogance committed suicide and Mulder was quite wary of scully's near perfect aim. It was the fact that it wasn't perfect that worried him most, but the fact she was so damn close to it that was equally as scary. With arms as short as hers; it seemed impossible for her to pitch balls that fast. Yet she did.

It was Mulder's last hit. He twisted the balls of his feet into the grass. He tightened his grip on the bat. He gulped.

-------------

He was afraid, she could see it. She had tortured him with impossible pitches; none of which he was yet to hit.

She nodded her head upwards and winked at him. Hopefully he would get the message. He licked his lips. She raised an eyebrow in a challenge.

She threw with as much precision as possible, aiming a little higher and less speed. It flew straight towards him. She could see his knuckles clench and his eyes narrow in concentration.

He swung.

The ball connected with the bat with a tremendous 'whack'. It redirected upwards and over her head. She ignored the urge to watch it fly. Instead she watched his face change to show his pride and triumph. He looked happy. He looked entirely content actually. Maybe he needed some time with family and friends. Well, maybe not so much family, friends mostly. Oh, what the heck; she would be his family tonight.

She watched him run around the bases; it was a simple victory lap.

At that moment he felt like he was somewhere he belonged. He knew that he was proud of himself, but he finally knew scully was proud of him too. Not for hitting the ball; but simply being himself.

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"He's a fine young man."

"Yes, he is. Whether he realises it or not; he often amazes me. And together, they both astound me"

The car was dark except for the glowing end of his cigarette. He offered another Morley to his companion. No. he took another drag and tasted the smoke on his tongue. One cigarette for every sin committed.

"This is not how things were planned. He's forgetting his past. They both need to get back on track."

"Their lives are well intertwined. There is a deep connection between them; it may be hard to break it." His companion added. They watched Mulder hug scully in his state of joy.

Spender took another puff. "Sacrifices must be made. You knew this when he was born, and she, may be a catalyst for him."

In the darkness of the vehicle, his companion nodded. "They can't be together."

"Not yet, Mulder still has a lot to learn. She has a lot to gain from not being associated with him. Yet she could be useful."

His companion sat in silence, watching Mulder as he happily blended with this group of people he had come to value above all else. It hurt to watch, and know what was to come.

------------

William Mulder arrived to the park later on in the evening. He was unusually cheery as he was introduced the Scully's and Mulder's friends. He was in deep conversation with bill scully; whilst Mulder picked up his bat and led scully and braydon over to a clearing.

Braydon would pitch, and Mulder would teach scully to bat. She was a wicked pitcher. Lousy batsman. He held the bat and had her caged in his arms. Her hands held the bat in between his. It was fun, and she enjoyed being there with him. Even though she surrendered control over to him, she felt safer now than ever. He dictated her movements, positioned her like a mannequin; but she felt at ease, like the burden of maintaining her independence and self control had been lifted.

The night got cooler and they younger ones needed to get home and to bed. They dispersed, but not before Maggie spoke to Mulder. He was relieved with what she told him, and left with his father.

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Friday rolled around and scully chose to sleep in. The only ones who knew Mulder stopped by were Maggie and William. Mulder thanked them and quietly snuck it placed a small flat, rectangular box under their Christmas tree. He offered them his best wishes and confirmed that he would come back at 6:00pm for dinner with his parents.

Before he left he thanked Maggie for helping him. William as ignorant to what they were referring to.

Mulder walked down the path and back to his house. The sun was yet to rise and he didn't want scully to wake up to the sound of his truck. He wanted his gift to be a surprise. He was glad Maggie had helped him decide what to get scully. It wasn't something he would have gotten her had it been his choice, but he didn't regret getting it. He knew scully would value it for her personal reasons beyond him, but he didn't mind at all

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**I cannot wait to write the next chapter now!!! Oh gosh! Story's starting to wrap up now. Yeah, I said it wouldn't go forever; my personal philosophy. But don't fear, most of you know I don't end with a cliff hanger, and I always like to do a 'later down the track' chapter. So fear not. And to be fair, I'll start the next chapter right now.**

**As always, feel free to tell me your thoughts. Am I keeping these two in character? Another part of my philosophy: keep em in character. Review it if you have a thought, they help me get Ideas and write faster.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own nothing... I simply create universes.**

**Summary: Christmas!! I need no further elaboration! Okay, I lie. Christmas Prezzie's time and then... new year's eve! Eeeiiihh! We see the possible birth of the two most recognisable motifs in the series, you know all those awesome shippy moments; they had origins. Mulder says something he didn't expect to say…. *hums away*… something important… *begins whistling too***

**A/note: stickin to my unofficial policy of fanfic, all me stories must tie into the series. I know how this stories gonna end (at the start of the show) and now I'm trying to put things into place. Big secret though, my memory is crap; so I can't remember if I told anyone. I think I told my beta though. Yeh, I did. The Prezzies are cliché', but I hope you guys will forgive me when you read the end.**

**PROPS TO EVERYONE FOR READING AND MY REVIEWERS!! OVER 100 REVIEWS!! *DANCES HAPPILY***

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The sun rose early as always. Scully didn't.

She took the opportunity to sleep in. Her cousins had disrupted her sleeping patterns significantly and she found herself become easily tired. The distraction of Christmas and presents offered her the quiet she had been seeking for the last two weeks.

Although the extended stay of her relatives was unexpected; it was not unwelcome. She enjoyed the chaos because it shifted her never-ending focus on academic study.

Her mother had said the year before that she would stop getting gifts after she turned 16. Mulder was coming around at lunchtime, so until then; she found no reason to rush out of bed.

She was not a lazy creature. Or even a remotely inactive one.

She rolled onto her back and welcomed the sunlight that burned her eyes. It was colder now. The weather change was sudden, not days ago was she and mulder soaping up his truck and chasing each other with soapy sponges in the baking sun.

Now it was freakin' freezing! She had thick blue socks on and she still felt the cold!

'Ugh!' she snuggled under her blanket. She knew she would be summoned by her mother or jumped on by her cousins and brother. Evil as it was, she had to get out of bed.

She sighed and made a dive from her bed to her robe.

"Slippers? Where are you?" She cooed as she looked around her bedroom floor.

She found them in the bathroom. She tied up her dressing gown and walked out of her bedroom. Her slippers shuffled over the carpet and she could hear her family in the lounge room.

Scully crept into the noisy room and plopped herself down onto the couch next to Melissa.

"Well… look who decided to grace us with her presence." Missy smiled. Scully looked down and smiled to herself. "Anyway, merry Christmas Dana." Missy leaned across and gave her a warm hug.

"You too missy. Did I miss much?" Scully said as she tucked her knees up to her chest.

"Apart from the explosion of gift wrap, and Santa visiting, not much more than what you see before you." Missy looked at all the younger ones on the floor in front of the tree; opening up presents and covering the carpet with pieces of coloured paper.

Scully sat in silence and watched Ahab on the floor with Charlie in his lap. It was so natural and homey. She sighed.

"You know I had to rescue one of the presents from over there." Missy said.

Scully turned towards her. "Why?"

"It would have been opened by someone for whom it was not intended." Missy stuck her hand between herself and the couch and pulled out a flat, rectangular, wrapped parcel. She handed it to Scully.

Scully took note of the precise wrapping and beautiful patterns on top. It was glossy white, with red and green mistletoe scattered across the top. It had a silver ribbon and small golden bow on it. A card was wedged between the wrapping and the ribbon.

She looked at her sister with confusion. Missy smiled and shrugged. "I dunno who it's from, but like the rest of them;" she nodded towards the confetti covered carpet. "It wasn't here last night."

Scully looked hesitantly at the gift in her hands. She could see the 'D' under the bow. She looked at missy and carefully removed the card.

'_My Dana,_

_Merry Christmas to you and the rest of your family._

_Just a little something that I'm sure you'd never lose,_

_And to remind you to always follow your heart._

_Fox'_

She gave the card to Melissa and strategically removed the pretty paper. A flat black velvet box sat in her hands. She opened it and cast her eyes over the necklace that was inside. A gold chain and a little cross. Very simple and charming, but beautiful all the same.

She chuckled a little at it. Not what she would have expected from Mulder at all. Melissa gestured for it and Scully took it from the box and gave it to her. Melissa unclipped it and put it around Scully's neck; admiring it as she did so.

Mulder was asking her never to lose her faith.

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Mulder looked at his mother. She returned the favour.

Christmas was a 24 hour long awkward moment in the Mulder house since Samantha disappeared. But this year may be different, or at least Mulder hoped so. Mulder sat on the kitchen counter with a glass of juice in his hands.

"Did you get Dana anything for Christmas?" Tina asked him as she busily buttered some toast. She handed one to Mulder.

"Yeah I did. Her mum was planning on getting her something, but she said it might be nice I it came from me. So she kinda nudged me into it." He bit into the hot toast.

"What did she suggest?" Tina asked with more inquiry than her question implied. She couldn't help feeling a sense of replacement by a woman she had never met before.

"A necklace with a cross on it." Mulder gestured to his neck with his toast. Tina frowned then raised an eyebrow. Mulder elaborated; "the whole family are Catholics, so I thought it would be appropriate." He shrugged.

Honesty with his mum was easier than with his father, but still not something he was used to. He saw a small smirk cross his mother's lips.

Their silence was interrupted by William Mulder's entrance. His shoes echoed through the room and turned the silence slightly uncomfortable.

Mulder was taken aback by his father's domestic behaviour. He kissed his wife good morning and patted Mulder on the shoulder in greeting.

For a moment, Mulder thought he may have woken up in the wrong house, and the feelings lingered on.

"Morning dad." Mulder asked warily.

William walked to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He turned back to Mulder and put his hand in his pocket.

"Merry Christmas son." He walked up to where Mulder was sitting and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. He handed it Mulder. The emblem in the corner of the envelope caught mulders attention quickly.

Oxford University.

"I… dad, what…?" Mulder stuttered. He looked at his father in astonishment.

"You always said you wanted to go to university. That you wanted to study psychology. Well, once you finish high school, you will." Tina said from her husband's side.

Mulder's grades would have gotten him into any university he wanted, but oxford? It was true he had always wanted to go there. "I don't know what to say."

"We can see that already son." Mulder laughed at his dad. "But we think you deserve to get away and have a good education."

"Whoa… um, thank you!" he said uncertainly. He hugged his mum and dad and then bolted up the staircase towards his room. Wait till he tells Scully!

Mulder stopped as he burst through his door. Hang on… what about Scully?

He looked out the window and saw tiny water droplets tap on his window. He hadn't really thought about what would happen to them after high school. He didn't want to consider the fact that they may go their separate ways.

------------

Mulder sat in the back seat of the car, chewing his bottom lip. He felt his tie tighten around his neck uncomfortably. He leaned forwards to rest his elbows on the head rests of the front seats.

"Hey, um… would you mind not mentioning the oxford thing today. I wanna tell Scully in my own time."

"Alright." William mumbled carelessly.

"We won't say a word dear." Tina added.

Mulder simply nodded and leant back into his seat and stared out his window into the rain.

He couldn't see far.

-------------

The organisation was simple in the Scully household.

If you were under twenty, you occupied the younger ones. If you weren't Mrs Scully, Dana or Melissa, stay out of the kitchen. Scully and Melissa didn't do much in the way of cooking; that was Maggie's thing, they were just the only ones she didn't shoo.

She always got very protective of the Christmas turkey.

The boys were out on the patio talking about football, the wives were drinking tea in the dining room whilst the turkey was roasting, Bill and Tara were out the back under the veranda and missy was on the phone in her room.

Scully amused herself by watching Mulder play with Charlie and her cousins. She couldn't get over how protective and energetic he was around them.

She fiddled with her necklace. She was yet to thank him, out of fear she might get carried away and behave inappropriately around the littlies.

They were summoned for lunch; she beckoned Mulder to stay behind. When the room was cleared, she stood toe-to-toe with him and straightened his tie, which had loosened itself. It didn't seem weird to see him dress so formally.

"An interesting present you got me Mulder." She diverted her eyes from his tie to meet his eyes, but dropped them again.

"Interesting because it came from me?" Mulder smirked cheekily.

"Yep." She said simply and patted his tie, now that it was more acceptable. Mulder put his hands on his hips.

"What did you get me?"

"You'll see…." She said seductively.

"You're messing with me aren't you?"

She licked her lips subconsciously and smiled her answer to him.

Mulder shook his head and chuckled to his feet. He sighed;

"God, I love you." He added unexpectedly.

Scully didn't see that one coming. Neither did Mulder.

Scully opened her mouth to speak "oh…" she spotted Bill standing behind Mulder in the doorway, half laughing at them. "Brother…" she switched in bitter irritation. Way to kill the mood Bill. Mulder turned and looked at Bill with equal vexation.

"Hurry up lovebirds." He said sarcastically.

'Note to self: kill Bill in his sleep.'

------------

Lunch was distracting.

For Mulder, this made the experience a lot more meaningful. To be distracted from the memory of Samantha, if only for a short time; was a release. Whilst he loved being involved with the Scully's, there was a distance that only blood could fill. Here, he had both.

He observed Scully's behaviour. So calm, so relaxed. Her laugh was not like her usual quiet giggle; it filled the room like sunlight. She was glowing. More than glowing, she let her personality shine through. Her skin was like glass; Mulder could see all of her. Clear as crystal. Clear as ice. Oh, what a contrast; glowing with the transparency of pure ice.

------------

Scully left the table early to play with the girls upstairs. Mulder stayed behind and involved himself in the familiar kafuffle. He too left and went to investigate her whereabouts. He found her; she sat cross legged on the floor reading a book to her cousins, all enthralled by her story.

"_His story being ended with his pipe's last dying puff, Queequeg embraced me, pressed his forehead against mine, and blowing out the light, we rolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were sleeping."_ She read fluently and with deep understanding.

Mulder leaned on the wall, causing a slight thump. Scully half turned and smiled with out making eye contact. She closed the book with her finger still in the page and put it in her lap. "I'll be right back." The younger ones groaned and whined in protest but Scully hushed them with easy affection.

When the younger one finally consented to her short departure, she gestured for Mulder to follow her. They went up the stairs to her room; she led the way. She simply looked at the bed, then at him. She didn't need to verbalize; he knew what to do. He sat down and watched her cross the room to her desk to deposit her book, then to her wardrobe. She came back and presented him a tube shaped gift.

He grinned at her. "For me?" He queried.

"No Mulder; it's for queequeg and I wanted your opinion on the wrapping…" Mulder pouted. "Okay, fine. You can have it." She mocked.

He clapped his hands together. She handed it to him and joined him on the edge of her mattress. He opened it. She was anxious, but felt quite relaxed at the same time.

A poster. He unfurled it with such careful precision it seemed he were uncasing a flag. He saw the back of it first.

'_D.S. for F.M. _

_Don't give up. '_

He flipped it over with caution, should it get caught on something and rip. A spaceship hovering over a forest and in big white letters at the bottom of the paper were the words "I want to believe". This was not something he expected from Scully. He liked it.

Although her face expressed nothing, he could see her anticipation in her eyes. He smiled and she let out a breath neither knew she was holding. "This is cute." He said simply.

She relaxed and lightly shoved him with her shoulder. "Why thank you. I saw it and thought you would like it."

"I do. This is going straight up in my room."

-----------

Mulder did as he promised. He hung it above his desk in his bedroom; he used blue-tack rather than pins so he didn't put holes in it. He returned to scully's house later that day for dinner with her. She invited Monica, John and Tara over too; it was a bit like a Christmas theme party for them, which was all good fun.

------------

The doorbell rang.

Spender looked at his watch and opened the door. She was late; he told her so.

"Yeah, well finding an excuse to go out on Christmas was harder than I thought." She replied bitterly.

"Once you hear what I have to say, you won't regret coming." He said as he drew out a cigarette.

Diana walked past him and sat on his couch. He sat across from her. He lit his cigarette and took a puff, inhaling deeply. He waited a moment before speaking. "What if I could offer you a chance to get what you want? Even two things."

She shifted uncomfortable and ran her fingers through her hair. "What's the catch?"

He smiled. She wasn't a _total_ ditz. "No catch. I need a job done. You and krychek possess the particular talents to pull it off; we both get the benefits."

She titled her head in curiosity. "What do I get?"

"Fox Mulder…" he leered. She was hooked and he was about to reel her in.

"I can't have Fox whilst she's with him" she snarled. Her hostility was not directed at him, but at scully.

"Precisely."

-----------

The day finally arrived for scully's relatives to leave. At the demands of her cousins; Mulder was there to bid them farewell. He was squeezed by the children all at once. They claimed to miss him as much as they would their family. He shook hands with Mark and sheepishly accepted a kiss on the cheek from Louisa.

He saw them drive down the driveway; he waved with one hand and wrapped the other around scully's shoulder.

Yes, he admitted it. He liked little kids. He hoped one day, he may have some of his own. Maybe, if he sorted out his tertiary education; he may have them with scully.

-----------

"I never thought I would live long enough to see you lying on your bed reading a book." Scully said as she leant on the frame of the door.

Mulder had left the front door unlocked for her. Now that his house was empty, he wanted some alone time with scully. As with every year, Tina and William seemed to take a week off for Christmas.

He lifted his eyes from his book and peered over the top. His glasses resting on the end of his nose. She shifted her gaze to rest onto them. A cheeky grin crossed her lips and remained.

"You have glasses?!" she half squealed. She skipped over to him and jumped onto the bed, lying alongside him. "I love them." She concluded.

He scoffed at her. She snuggled into his side and drew her attention to his book. "What are you reading?"

"A porno…" he said sarcastically. She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, it's a chick's book."

"And?" she said, not understanding his implication.

"A chick's book? Like a chick flick in word form." He enunciated, like it was self explanatory. She didn't care.

"What's it about?"

"Um… it's about these two people who fall in love, but the girl is persuaded to not be with him. They meet up heaps of years later and try to persuade themselves to admit they still love each other."

"Is it 'persuasion'?"

He nodded in shame. Jane Austen wasn't the most commonly read piece of male literature. He took off his glasses, scully let out a small whimper. He suppressed a chuckle at her.

"What are we doing for new years?" She asked as he shuffled down the bed to lie parallel to her.

"I don't know. Well…" a cute grin crossed his lips. "I can think of one thing…"

"In your dreams Mulder…" she interrupted.

Oh, how tempted he was to say, 'actually, in _your_ dreams scully. You talk in your sleep.' But he chose to live to see the next year. Instead, he dramatically sighed a "yeah…"

------------

**i read to much. I really do. I have to say this: I don't own 'Moby Dick' or 'Persuasion' either. No money made on them. Cheers to reviewers and readers *thumbs up*, I'm ashamed to say I haven't gotten a chance to read any updated stories (whimpers in agony), thus not reviewing them. Holidays here in South Australia *does the robot dance* so…. Updating time!!! **

**Forgive my clichéd Prezzies, but there is importance to them in the end of this story. I promise. **

**Dedication to….: my new illustrator, Emily. Writers, get an illustrator, it's so cool!!!!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer****: okay, how about I write an X files novel and get the rights to that story and not have to write this? Ooh, there's an idea… oh yeah, and I own nothing.**

**Summary/authors note****: some MSR (why not?) and the start of the next year, (don't ask me which one) brings about incredibly dramatics overtures for Mulder and scully. This chapter is me being emotional and poignant (no tears though) and squeezing this cute couple for all they're worth before I'm forced to obey my second law of fanfic. I know I haven't been here much, I deserve to have my XF DVD's taken from me as punishment… *shudders* I'll be honest, cos you guys deserve that much, I kinda ran out of motivation and home work didn't help. Sorry guys, ill try and update more. Its coming back I reckon. **

**Dedication****: DKMS… duh, she gets automatic dedication. Dana42, (of course) for her wonderful support and prestigious reviews. PMD (naturally), Mary M (logically), lilykakes (understandably) and XFgirl (justifiably), and sandi Scully (enjoy the London trip) cos they really all deserve a cookie. A new Aussie mate named Charlie, for being as fantastically goofy as yours truly, and big dedication to ALL readers and reviewers! You guys rock!!**

**Enjoy the MSR juice!**

-----------------------------

"We going to the prom together?" Mulder asked casually.

He and Scully walked the hallway of the school building together. First day back after Christmas holidays were often a bit hectic. They came to their lockers.

"The prom? That's still a while away Mulder. I haven't even thought about it. I wasn't really planning on going. I'm not much for dresses you know…" She said as she hit her locker and let it open. She'd learnt a trick from Mulder.

"But you will go with me if I asked you to?" Mulder pleaded.

"No way, me and Dana are going together, you can have john!" Monica jumped up behind Scully and threw an arm around her shoulder. Scully giggled. John waltzed up to them not far behind them and nodded his greeting to Mulder and scully.

"I'm sure johns got great legs and would look drop dead gorgeous in a dress." John punched him in the arm. "But…I'd only go with Scully." He opened his arms up comically.

Scully jumped out of Monica's arm and into Mulder's. "Sorry Mon. Mulder beat you to me. Guess you'll have to settle for john."

"Dana, you're mean to me." She teased and kissed john on the cheek. The bell rang.

Monica and john went one way down the hall. Mulder looked down at the small red-head wrapped around him.

"So is that a yes?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"It's a definitely."

Mulder grinned. Reluctantly, he let go of her, "Woohoo, Scully in another dress! Good things happen when Scully wears a dress!" he cheered, walking backwards down the hall. He gave her a half wave before turning and jogging to home group.

She wasn't lying when she said she wasn't much of one for dresses. Skirts, she could handle. Dresses were for _very_ special occasions. She preferred the comfort of jeans and trackie-dacks. But she had to agree with Mulder, good ting did tend to happen when she wore a dress.

She walked to home group. She was a little late and knew Mr. Skinner was a bit of an organization-Nazi, and she expected a bit of a lecture. No one defied skinner. Oh well, can't change the past, only the future.

She entered the classroom. No skinner, only Spender. Unusual for him to be taking a home room class. Heck, it was unusual for him to leave his office.

"Good morning miss Scully." He said pointedly, letting her know she was late. She got the idea.

Scully said nothing and continued into the room to her usual seat. It was occupied and Scully found herself face to face Diana. 'Ugh, hell mouth open and take me whole' she thought. Diana wasn't in this class. At least, she wasn't as of last semester.

Scully went to sit in the seat across from her, but Diana stood.

"Was this your seat?" Diana inquired concernedly. Okay, that was weird…

She paused before replying. "Kinda."

Diana moved out of the seat and took the one across from it. "There you go."

Scully was beyond cautious. She was plain old worried. But then, when you got a good thing going, don't let it go. She sat down. "Cheers."

No other words were exchanged. She couldn't label the encounter as unpleasant; it was undoubtedly unsettling. Her spidey-sense was tingling something mega.

------------------------

Biology first. Although Mulder was often quite distracting (at least to her) he was well behaved in class; it was the only time he was truly well mannered, so of course Scully took advantage of it. She suspected it was the teacher, Mrs. Kay. She was one of those i-take-no-crap-and-if-you-give-me-crap-ill-liquify-you-with-my-mind-powers kind of person. You know, one of those. Scully could respect someone like her. Mulder just put on a very brave face.

'Oh cheerio, a video on protein synthesis!' Scully thought bitterly. She preferred practical work mostly. She liked getting her hands all nice and dirty. She hated repetition, she knew this stuff. Biology was like her second language, because she certainly couldn't speak mathinese or chemistrian, though she understood the organic chem. Well enough.

Mulder nudged her elbow. She cast her eyes upon him. He said nothing but smiled warmly at her. Enough said.

------------------------

Lunch time came around and Mulder would have liked the familiar company at their table. He enjoyed having the same group in the same place at the same time. He was always content with just scully though. But Mulder was troubled.

Today Monica and john weren't at the table. God only knows where they were.

"Scully… there's, something I gotta tell you." He breathed anxiously.

"What is it Mulder?" Scully asked warily.

He hesitated. Maybe he could pass on it and not hurt her. No. He couldn't do that. "My parents have paid for my college tuition." Scully's expression did not change, but she listened carefully. "And when I graduate here, I'll be leaving for England. For Oxford." He felt a knot in his throat from the tension.

Scully swallowed the bit of tomato from her salad in her mouth before speaking. "That's great Mulder. I'm happy for you…" she half smiled.

"Scully… I'm gonna leave, and I wont be back for a few years." He said intently. Didn't she understand him?

"I'll follow you anywhere Mulder. If that means I have to work a little harder to follow you to university, so be it."

"We're talking about your future here Scully. I'm not going to stand in the way of your dreams of being a doctor. I can't."

"My career. You. Both of these are important to me, you're right. In regards to my education, a medical degree is not bound to American soil. And as for you, it doesn't matter where I go; if we're together, I'll live on mars." She stated decidedly. She was firm in her belief and nothing would move her. God love her because he certainly did.

Mulder had no idea how important he was to her. Well, he kind of knew but didn't totally comprehend. Was she really willing to give up everything for him? Apparently yes.

"And if all else fails, we can run away together." He joked. Scully chuckled in agreement. Although the idea of running away would be a last resort for both of them, their opinions were mutual; if it was they're last option, so be it.

They would be okay. He hoped.

------------------------

Scully lay snuggled into her blankets as she tried to get to sleep. It was cold, and she preferred to be warm. There was a light tapping on her window. Stupid tree branch. Go away. More tapping. If a huff she rolled over and saw shadows pass her window.

Her eyes widened till they were halfway out of they're sockets. 'Stalker!' Her mind automatically concluded.

"Scully?"

Oh phew. Not a stalker. Even better. Mulder.

She shuffled sideways out of bed but took her blanket with her as she waddled over to the window. Hesitantly, she opened the window. "aaarrr." She shuddered in dislike of the weather. "Mulder?"

She saw him, wrapped around the branch outside of her window like a five year old around a mother's leg.

She felt the wind. "Mulder! Get in here or you'll freeze you butt off!" She reached out of her window and grabbed the collar of his red letterman jacket. It wasn't so much her need to half drag Mulder into her room that made her pull so hard, but as much the need to get her arm back in the safety of her blanket. Cold… not good.

Mulder was teetering on her windowsill. She would have dropped him to the floor just to get him inside faster, but preferred he wouldn't make a thunk on the floor. Once he was safely inside and curled up at her feet, she eagerly shut her window.

"Mulder?! Are you nuts?"

"Wouldn't put it past me…" he chattered.

She sighed and helped him up off the floor. She wrapped her blanket around one of his shoulders and they quickly retreated to her bed. He curled around her warm body. He was cold. He made her cold, but she forgave him. He didn't touch her with his icy hands, she knew he didn't want her too be uncomfortable. Stuff him. She took both his hands and held them in her own under her chin, trying to suppress the chill they sent down her spine.

"Mulder, tell me. Why where you outside my window?" She breathed warm air onto their linked fingers.

"So I didn't have to use the door bell?" she felt his smile on her neck.

"Mulder…"

"I'm wondering Scully-" he began.

"So am I Mulder."

He laughed lightly. "I'm wondering, if it came down to it, would you be happy with me; away from here and everyone you know, rather than being separated. I know if you couldn't get into oxford, I'd go where you go." He mumbled.

"You know me well enough to know that when I make a decision I would never give up on making it happen." She squeezed his hand, which were much warmer now.

He wrapped himself more tightly around her. "Finally, we found good use for your stubbornness." They laid there together for a bit. "Hey Scully?"

"Mm?" She said as she felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her.

"How do you keep going like that? You won't let anything stop you from doing anything. How can you do it?"

She rolled over to face him. Her eyes were drooping closed and she had found his collar, which was a nice place for her to be. "Easy. Everyone needs a motto. I have mine." She mumbled.

"Which is what?"

"Hmm? Oh… um, don't give up. Never back down. Fight for what's right. Which ever one applies, I follow… silence is golden…" she said incoherently.

"Silence is golden?" Mulder asked, feeling a little snoozy himself now that he was warmer.

"Uhhh, keep you're feelings to yourself… mm…" she slurred. He felt her start to relax. He snuggled closer and let his nose touch hers.

"Scully?" he whispered. She made a tiny murmur in reply.

"Do you promise?"

She mumbled a confident mm-hm. Then, she slept.

------------------------

Mulder left about an hour after Scully had fallen asleep. The trip home wasn't as long or as cold this time. He walked quickly down the streets towards his house. It was breezy and the wind smelled of wood smoke. The leaves in the trees rustles like mother nature orchestra reaching a crescendo and the familiar sound of his feet hitting the pavement was enough to ease his anxiety down to a violent hum.

He walked up the pathway to his front door, feeling déjà vu beckon him through. As he crossed from outside to inside, his mind flashed an odd scenario; lasting only a brief second, but as clear as if it happened.

_He walked through the door. He was met by Scully, beautiful as ever. Her warm glow lighting up the room more brightly than any light or star could. Her eyes cast upon him with affection that not even diamonds could replicate. For that split second, he felt so loved and happy; he missed it as if she had died when the thought concluded._

In reality, the house he entered was not warm. It was not inviting or at all comforting. No. It was lacking.

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**Short, probably random and of course, shippy. You all know me; I need to take a moment before I deliberately screw up the sugar sweet plot with something that would probably have me thrown in fanfic prison for. Be prepared. I'm not. Yet :) cheers to all, its nice to be back. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I swear, I'm gonna go and right an x files novel just so I am allowed to write stories about the X Files… like, legally. Until then, same as always CC and fox own everything.**

**Summary: The story is coming to its final leg :( sadly, but like David and Gill said about the series finale, "All good things must come to an end." Have no fear; ending is planned for around chapter 20-22. Probably a random chapter in appearance this one, but its more significant for the wrap up. NO MAIN CHARACTERS IN THIS CHAPTER! BUT IT IS A REALLY IMPORTANT CHAPPIE! And I'm speculating on CSM's first name, it just a guess.**

**A/note: this entire story is for all those who have helped me develop my skills to a far more acceptable standard. I ain't no Shakespeare, but the writing is slowly getting better. So cheers for all the love you guys sent. I'm gonna be real sad when this story ends, but an idea only goes so far. Cheers to Tashy and Julia for their help with my new story, '7 day inquiry'. It's still in the works but I've written chapters 1-4 (chapter 4 is in two parts! Conspiracy!) out of 7, so it's not far off (10,000 words so far!).**

**Love you guys!!! :o)**

Stupid library.

They're all the same.

The school had one.

Why was the national one any different?

Daniel Waterson walked at the back of the tour group; completely ignoring whatever the dumb guide was rambling on about. A combined trip for English communications. Juniors and seniors. He came so he could get out of school. This was the less of two evils, he supposed.

Just as he was about to start throwing things in frustration, he spotted the other tour group. A mixture of ages and stereotypes.

And there she was. Diana Fowley. One of the most popular and controversial people he went to school with.

He was hit with a sudden surge of desire. We wanted her; for she was certainly a prize. He knew there were times she would look at him, when her attention's where purely for her own satisfaction. When the two groups walked closely to one another, he jumped into the other. He felt a need in his centre and his hands. He had to have her. He'd never noticed her before now, not like this.

He slid in next to her. She noticed instantly.

"Hey Dan. How you goin'?" She chimed. Her voice sent chills through him. Chills and waves.

"_Better_ now...don't wanna be here" he leered. He gave her a five star grin; one that said 'my eyes are one you'.

Her eyes twinkled. Bingo. Fish on a hook. She looked around.

"Where do you _wanna _be?" she asked seductively, slowing her pace till they were at the back of the group and falling behind.

He stopped walking. So did she. He looked at the group ahead of him as they rounded a corner.

"This room is too open, I got a condition." He joked.

"Oh, what is it?" she asked, moving into his space. He wasn't serious, she knew that. God, he needed to get his hands all over her.

"Like reverse claustrophobia. I like small spaces. Hate crowds. Too many eyes." He ran a finger along the seam of her jeans. He hooked his finger into one of her belt loops and pulled her in further.

"I agree..."

-----------------

The face we wear in public is a mask to hide from the judgement of society. Whether a face of knowledge, compassion, ignorance or confidence, it has to come off sometime.

Underneath, is a child. One that cries; that is afraid, insecure and vulnerable. Major events may smash this mask. Or an understanding of great truth. Or one person with more than two hands.

Two hands that pushed Diana too far. Where she was afraid to go. Two hands she couldn't fight, that stopped her from screaming, and that wouldn't let her go.

-----------------

She cried. He hurt her and left her in that room. Promiscuity finally bit her in the ass. She felt dirty. She could smell him on her. She put that mask back on; with it came dignity, confidence and anger. She composed herself enough to walk out of the conference room.

She walked slowly, people blurring around her. Masses of voice filled her ears, slowly drowning in the steady thumping of her heart beat. She felt numb, and still angry. She felt nothing around her. Her eyes went out of focus; she walked blindly, but somehow managed to run into no one.

Eventually she did.

"Miss Fowley?" The cool English voice asked.

Her eyes refocussed on the blue striped tie and charcoal suit in front of her. She looked up at the wrinkled face and dark aging hair on top. His eyes narrowed very slightly, his mind ticked. He went to put a hand on her shoulder, she retreated from his touch.

"What happened? Who hurt you?" Spender asked, his voice laden with concern.

She couldn't stop them now. He put her face in her hands to stop the next wave of tears. Without hesitation spender wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pushed her out of the open and outside the front doors. He took her around the side of the massive building.

"Tell me..." he demanded in a gentle voice.

"Daniel Waterson... it was just mucking around at first... then, it wasn't." Tears forbid her from continuing.

Spender pulled her into an embrace. Teachers weren't supposed to be seen hugging students. She was an asset, a resource. She didn't apply to the rule.

"I'll take care of it." He said, patting her brown tangled hair.

----------------------------

He was relieved, but he still didn't return to the tour group. He felt an icy hand on his shoulder. He turned. Spender stood with an expression that revealed nothing. He heart jumped suddenly. If Diana had told him, he would have been faced with the cops. His heart calmed to a constant, steady beat.

"A word, Waterson..." spender said, turning to walk away. He felt Daniel follow behind him.

Three doors and two flights of stairs and spender was standing on the roof. It was sunny, the breeze was barely noticeable and the sounds of the city filled his slowly failing ears. He walked to the edge and closed his eyes. The world was putty in his hands and he hated the fact no one knew the power he held.

"Sir? Why are we on the roof?" waterson asked in confusion.

Spender opened his eyes. "Have you ever stood on top of the world, Daniel? It makes you feel rich..." Spender pointed nonchalantly to the horizon.

"No sir, I haven't" Daniel said, stepping forward with curiosity.

Spender didn't speak as Daniel went to stand next to him. When he stopped, spender spoke.

"It's about possession. A man can own so many kinds of things. Whether that be taken by force, acquired or earned. I have a house, a wife, knowledge, a job..." he turned to face Daniel. "An important job, one that begun long before you, and you will not compromise my work."

Daniel arched his eyebrows. Spender leaned forwards too whisper into his ear.

"You don't own her. I do..."

He grabbed Daniel's shoulder with both hands and pushed him sideways, over the edge of the building. Down, down, into hell. He hit the cement stairs with a bloody crunch.

He stepped back from the edge and lit a cigarette, having never seen the look of horror on Daniel's face.

-----------------

_One month later._

"The police said no one witnessed him jump Charles, are you telling me you withheld information? Why?" Daniel Waterson Snr asked his old friend.

"I tried to stop him. He said he hurt a girl. That he lost control and had his way with her. He said he didn't deserve to live. I couldn't get to him in time. Would you rather I had told the police? And compromise the good name I gave you and your family?"

The professor sat in his recliner. "No, I'm glad you didn't. I already owe you so much Charles... is the girl alright?"

"you'll find a way to console yourself with that one day. Yes, she is fine now. She has confided in me and only me. She saw one of the private doctor's I arranged for her to see." Spender sighed and fell into the seat across from his associate. "How is your daughter?"

"Depressed. She won't talk about Dan. Nor will my wife. I doubt they ever will again. They just want to block it out. It helps them cope." Waterson let his head flop backwards.

"I have a new job for you."

Waterson sighed. The man never lingered on one topic too long. "Where? When?"

Spender chuckled. "It's easy. You have been appointed to Maryland University. Medicine, of course. You start next year."

Waterson leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees. "Maryland? Why? What have you got planned Charles?"

"I can't tell you that. You'll have a student come through in the next few years I need you to look after. Dana Scully. Bright young thing. Naive as any young girl. You'll keep an eye on her. She'll be very lost I imagine."

"Dana Scully? Why is she so important?"

"She's all part-" spender began.

"Of the bigger plan, I got it." Waterson finished with a frustrated wave of his hand. Spender grinned and nodded. Waterson sighed. "Whatever you need Charles."

"Good. She won't recognise you; you'll just be a friendly face and a shoulder to cry on. Can you handle that?"

Did he have a choice? Not with this man he didn't.

He nodded to the man who was part time friend, part time executioner.

-----------------

**Forgive me for I have sinned... I DIDN'T UPDATE SOONER! Just smoothing out the creases and magnifying the little details to make this story decent enough for you guys to read, you only deserve the best. Love you all! **


	18. Chapter 18

**FOR NAN, GET WELL SOON!**** LUV KAITI**

**Disclaimer: not mine. Don't sue, I'm still poor.**

**Summary: honestly? This is about mulder and scully taking a big step in their relationship. Also lets me procrastinate from finishing the story. Damn; I can't ignore the inevitability of a change in M+S's bond... nor would I want to :oD Started this on a bus on a cadet camp. Its now week five of school. so yes, "i deserve the harshest punishment for my crimes" **

**A/note: cheers for the positive response and support for '7 day inquiry' guys! I apologise HEAPS for not updating in a long time. Its assessment time at school ANNDDDDDD my computer had a relapse X( I haven't written in weeks and it's giving me a major eye twitch. WAHHH! Sixth to last chapter! WHY?! *crawls into foetal position* unfortunately, I don't own titanic either. Bah... :/ ha ha! Watching 'get smart'.... very funny.**

**Dedi: Tashy, for giving me incentive and motivation to write again, and my Nan, :) who loves the fact that I write stories and in hope that she gets better soon.**

**---------------------------**

It was raining.

A gentle, perpetual drizzle that made her skin glisten.

Scully leaned on her yellow canvas backpack, protecting her textbooks from the rain, on the back lawn; her clothes soaked through and her hair plastered to her face. She lolled her head around in slow circles and let the cold water hit every part of her skin. The sun was hovering above the horizon.

She heard a splashing of a puddle and opened one eye, then closed it again. Mulder's bike fell onto her lawn with a metallic thump.

**"**You know mulder, logically mulder, if you have a car; you ought to drive it." She said as she stared with closed eyes up at the dark cloudy skies.

"Well logic also says a person ought to not be sitting in the rain." Mulder said articulately. His voice was closer to her than she thought. She smiled, sat up and looked at him. He sat in front of her, legs crossed and his hair still partly dry; the droplets bouncing off his red and black jacket.

"Logic say's helicopters and bumble bees shouldn't fly." she retaliated cheekily.

Mulder's jaw moved to one side, he smiled and tilted his head back to one side knowingly "Logic says we shouldn't be able to feel emotions... like love." he teased.

"Pppffftttt! Screw logic!" she laughed.

"Now that sounds like a plan..." Mulder smiled wider and leaned forwards to give her a kiss on her cold forehead. He frowned; not that she saw and his lips lingered for a moment before he pulled away. "Cold... Let's get you inside." he said with controlled authority. "Last thing I need is for you to get sick. Why are you out here anyway? There's no sense in sitting in the rain scully."

"It's fun. I do it for the sake of consistency mulder. But rain is different wherever you go. I don't care what the weatherman says…" she said through squinted eyes, shrugging her shoulders dismissively.

"Yeah? Well there is one thing about rain; it's cold, no matter where you are." He took her hands and pulled her up off the grass. "Except maybe on the equator in summer..." mulder said, then trailed as he thought about; he had obviously confused himself. He wondered how much rain the equator saw.

"Since when did you become an analyst? I thought I was the smart one here." She smiled wickedly.

"Mostly. But I'm smart at other stuff scully." He said smugly.

"I'm guessing English isn't one of those things."

"I prefer looking at the pictures." Mulder shrugged. "Come on, we'll ride to my place. Do some study hey?"

"Now you're starting to scare me." she said, shaking the water off the tip off her nose. "I get front seat?"

He nodded and taking her backpack, he helped her onto the handle bars of his bike. He began peddling down the darkened driveway, his view blocked by the best distraction he ever laid eyes on.

-------------------------------

Scully took the chance to balance herself as best she could and take both hands off the handle bars. She felt like she was flying through the rain; she felt so free. Mulder held onto her with one arm around her waist. The wind stung on her face ever so slightly.

'Kate Winslet eat your heart out, you can keep Leonardo.' She closed her eyes and grinned. 'I have mulder'

"Scully... I wouldn't mind seeing the road in front of me thanks."

Eh, no one's perfect.

------------------------------

"You know m-mulder... if you I d-didn't meet your parents at c-Christmas, I'd swear you were an orphan..." scully shivered. She was wrapped up in mulder's letterman jacket and waited as patiently as she could for him to open his front door. She didn't anticipate how cold the wind would have gotten on the way over.

"I reckon I'd believe you..." he unlocked to front door and pushed it open for her. He didn't need to encourage her to get inside; she ducked under his arm before he released the door handle. The house was warm despite the tiles and large empty space in contained.

How many hours of maddening silence does he endure? She was around here often enough to know whilst it excelled in magnificence and sophistication, it lacked warmth and acceptance. With that understanding she could now better comprehend why mulder preferred her crowded little dwelling to his stone cold castle.

Mulder ditched her soaked canvas bag on the tiles.

"Come on you." He leant forwards and put one hand on his dark, wet jeans and the other out to his side towards her. She hesitated. Mulder raised an eyebrow and licked his lips.

"Scully, you're going to drip water all over my floor..." he grinned.

She held out her hand and let him throw her onto his back. Her soggy green and black hoodie blended in with his darkened gray shirt that stuck closely to him. Her shirt was cool as it pressed across her skin, but slowly grew warm between them. He trudged up his stairs; her legs hooked tightly around his hips.

He stopped in front of his bed, waiting for her to climb down. She did not.

"Ah... scully? You coming down?" he said into her hair as she nuzzled her nose against her arm and into the back of his shoulder.

"Mm mm" she shook her head.

Mulder inwardly sighed. He let go of her legs and shoved his hands onto the pockets of his darkened jeans. She held on tighter. Fine. Taking her with him, he approached his wardrobe and started sifting through one of the many boxes he stored there.

Eureka.

He picked up the standing fan and untangled the cord from his old alarm clock. Scully had looked up to see what all the unnecessary movement was about.

"Don't you dare mulder..." she warned. Oh yeah, like that would stop him. He stopped and gave her a devilish grin.

"Or?" he challenged. He plugged in the fan to the wall.

"Or ill...never speak to you again."

That, by far, is the biggest load of crap that had ever exited her mouth, and he knew it.

His finger touched the on switch lightly; testing the waters. Her eyebrows were twitching to stop them from arching. No fear. She needed an escape plan. Bond? MacGyver? What would they do?

Mulder waggled his eyebrows.

"Last chance scully. T minus 5..." he teased.

She could jump off. Let him win. This was silly. Who was she kidding? It was a battle of wills.

"4..."

That choking idea is starting to sound good.

"3..."

She stared at his finger flexing above the fan switch.

"2......"

Brainwave! Who could outsmart her goofball secret agent partner every time?

He went to speak the last number when she raised herself up and over her shoulder to kiss him in the most awkward and urgent manner that mulder had no idea what to make of it. Victorious.

God bless agent 99.

---------------------------------

The soap smelled of strawberry as she smoothed the bubbles across her neck. The water was warm and it stung a little, especially on her toes. Considering he was often alone and was rather male, his bathroom was quite immaculate. She had such little feet. How the hell did she ever not fall over on them? Water ran along the bridge of her nose as she watched the bubbles slide around the sides of her feet.

She almost mourned their loss when she was left with just water. Time to get out; as hard as it may be to do so; it was so warm.

A knock on the bathroom door. She shut the water off and yanked the towel off the misty glass door. She realised that she hadn't locked the door.

"Scully? I got your clothes from the dryer if you want 'em." He said; the sound of his voice muted slightly through the door. Leaving her hair in a dripping mess she wrapped the maroon towel around her waist, stepping out of the large shower.

"You can come in mulder." she offered, taking another towel from the steel rack for her hair.

He opened it ever so slightly. "You decent?"

"I don't think a towel counts as decent..." she frowned.

"Does for me." He opened the door all the way open and leaned against the frame, her dry garments resting against his thigh. My shook his head in satisfaction and gave her a once over. Behind his fully clothed figure she saw their books spread in little piles across his bedroom floor. Warm air penetrated the room and she saw dark orange glow of mulder's radiator heater. She rubbed her crown with the towel and couldn't see his face.

She looked at him from under the towel and was surprised; of all the parts of her small body she expected him to be staring at, she was startled to find him looking straight at her face.

"What?" She asked with lightness to disguise her slight discomfort.

He shrugged. "Nothing. Just thinking, I guess."

"About?" Like she didn't know already. She continued to scruffle her hair to dry it, careful not to move too much, should the maroon towel around her body slip.

"Wondering if I'd be lucky to see you every day like this." He deadpanned with consideration.

"What, half naked?" she quipped. "You do see me, virtually every day anyway."

He grinned. Whilst she couldn't see him, he gave her another one over; a more detailed one. He enjoyed it, like making love to her with his eyes. He observed how tiny glistening droplets clung to the skin on her legs and she pointed her left foot on her toe behind her right one. So small she was, like a fragile child. He could never think of her as a child; she was far wiser than he was. He himself could definitely see she was beautiful. He wondered how anyone could see her as anything but.

She flipped her hair back and rubbed the back of her head. She was aware of his staring, he too was aware of it now. She addressed it in their silent language.

_'What? Why do you keep looking at me?'_

He answered her aloud.

"Just you. No caution and worry. When you're not hiding behind your textbooks. When your attention is nowhere..." he gestured with a lazy hand. "Not on school or on people around you or your future. I hope I get to see you like that every day. I guess I love you more when you're burdening yourself with less. I wish I could keep you like this, as amazing as you are; I'd do anything to keep you like this. My chances of being that lucky, used to be like, one in a billion..." he trailed off. He dropped his gaze for a moment, and then returned it to her. "Sorry, I'm rambling, I'll leave you..." he held out her clothes to her. He went to say something more, but shrugged one shoulder and closed the door behind him.

Like most young women, curiosity got the better of her. She held her clothes close to her chest and followed him into his room. She caught him in mid sit on his bed. It was raining heavily outside, but the silence was still deafening. She shuffled across the carpet and came to a halt in front of him. She ran the tips of her fingers through his messy damp hair. She ran a finger down the side of his face and kept it on his cool cheek. He finally looked up at her with weary but sparkling eyes.

_'Did you mean that?'_

_'Yeah.'_

_'That took a lot to say didn't it?'_

_'Yeah...'_

What past between them after that was beyond interpretation. She leant down and kissed him, slowly and sympathetically. He readily welcomed her into his arms, accepting her warm affection despite the cool water covering her exposed skin. He fell backwards onto his bed not letting her go as he did, where he continued to kiss her with far greater passion and investment than he had ever experienced. Together they fell into one another...

The rain slowed to a steady patter; and an orange glow flowed out of Mulder's window into the dark evening. The silhouettes in the window disappeared from view, where they hid for several hours. Then the light disappeared as the younger lovers slept.

---------------------------------

"Hmm...." he mused.

"What is it?" She asked, eager for information.

"What's going on?" Alex asked; his mouth full of salt and vinegar chips.

He squinted through the telescope. He felt the growing pressure upon him, to do his job.

"What can you see?" She asked, more impatiently this time. She uncrossed her legs and sat up on the leather lounge piece, her glass cradled in her hands. She lost her patience and stood abruptly.

"What's going on sir?!" She demanded.

Spender lifted his gaze above the eyepiece of the telescope. Without standing up; he cast a glance over his shoulder, he clenched his teeth slightly and quietly hissed a breath between his lightly stained teeth.

"Chill out Di, don't rush the old boy." Alex munched. He stopped chewing when Spender's gaze fell upon him.

Slowly, Spender replaced the cap on the eyepiece. In the distance, Mulder's window was simply a small orange glow. He straightened his back; it disapproved of being in a compromising stance. He rounded on his two associates.

"I believe our time is up. They are now, very much, I dare say... inseparable."

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**Feel free to review, I apologise for not doing so for my fellow author's stories. I'm sad to say I'm struggling to find to read fanfiction, let alone write much. I can't wait for exams in early November, because then I'll have oodles of time to update. PS, my Nan is fine :o] Her surgery went all good. Nanny, this chapter is for you!!**


	19. chapter 19

**SHAMEFULLY LATE UPDATE ****:(**

**Disclaimer:**** *raspberry* nup, not mine. No $$$ has passed hands in the making of this little fic (except a new cartridge for the printer)… don't sue me. I don't actually own Colin, but I do own Laura. Chris carter is the god and creator of the X Files world, I'm the little devil let loose to cause chaos. :0). **

**Chapter summary:**** one word… PROM!! (I had my own recently) Ok, I can't stop at one, I will try to avoid as many clichés associated with prom as possible… one can hope.**

**A/note:**** you're all creative thinkers; you can imagine how glad I am to be back. Exams are over (thank god!) and I got nearly three months ahead of me to write and vid and photomanip =] I love holidays. I'm on an Air Force Cadet course from 20****th**** December till about the 20****th**** January, and then school starts up again. =[ sorry, I'm rambling… **

**(_)** _**THANK YOU**_ TO _EVERYONE_ FOR BEING PATIENT AND WAITING.

* * *

The rain had finally stopped, and an opening in the clouds emerged.

Dodging browning leaves and the random swings of the branches that bind them, the speckled shadows came to rest across Scully's sleeping features. A large chunk of her hair was strewn across her mouth and nose; in between sleeping and waking, she smiled lightly.

Mulder watched the bit of hair covering her mouth move faintly. He very slowly brought his warm hand out from under the scrunched up blankets and gently pushed it back behind her ear. Her smile widened a little more.

"Hey…" Mulder cooed through droopy eyes.

She bit her lower lip and opened her right eye sleepily.

Mulder realised he had a lot to say, but was stumped in finding worlds to express himself. So he smiled back at her; it was the most articulate form of expression in this situation. She granted him a wide smile and closed her eyes again; snuggling closer into his embrace.

They stayed together in bed for almost an hour; not willing to move any time soon. Mulder quickly went back to sleep.

* * *

Before 8 o'clock the shrill of Mulder's cell filled the room.

Scully moaned a sleepy protest at Mulder's not-so-careful roll over her much snuggled body. She openly objected to the theft of Mulder's blanket, to which she had grown very fond of during the night. She attempted to ignore the cold as it accumulated under the woollen sheet.

"Mm… hello?" Mulder grumbled into his cell whilst he tried to cover his shoulders with his blanket.

"Hello Fox, its Maggie."

"Mrs. Scully?" this inquisition alerted Scully to his side, his blue sheet wrapped around her body. Mulder covered the cell with his palm.

"Go call Monica on my phone, tell her you stayed at her place." Scully did as instructed. Mulder returned his attention to the cell.

"What's up?"

"I can't get hold of Dana, she left her phone at home and didn't come home last night, do you know where she is?"

"Uh… well, we were-" he caught sight of Scully as she hurried into the room, cordless house phone in her exposed hand. She threw him a dubious look whilst dialling Monica's home number. Mulder feigned a cough. "Sorry, cold weather. Um, yeah, we were doing some revision last night and then we went to Monica's house. Scully kind of conked out, and we thought it would be easier for her to stay there." He stalled. He could hear Scully's rapid explanation to Monica down the hall way. "I reckon you ought to try Monica's. Probably better on her house phone though; she always leaves her cell on silent for school."

"Alright. Thank you Fox. Are you still going shopping today?" Mrs. Scully added before hanging up, for which Mulder was glad. Any spare time was welcome.

"Yeah. We were just going to organise the prom stuff all today."

"Ok then. Goodbye."

"Bye Mrs. Scully."

Mulder hung up and slumped. He tossed his cell on the bare bed and walked out into the corridor. Scully was frantically arguing with Monica.

"Look Monica, we'll make it up to you, can you please just tell mum I stayed at your place?" she argued.

"Cause you fell asleep there when we swung by." Mulder interjected.

"Because I fell asleep there last night when we visited you." She relayed.

Scully listened intently or several moments before her eyes quickly grew panicky.

"Ok Mon, just answer it, leave me on the line, tell he you're gonna go get me, then ill talk to her." She rationalised.

She carefully placed her hand over the phone.

"Mum's call came in whilst she was talking." She pressed her ear back to the phone and gnawed her lip like a rabbit. Mulder shifted his weight from side to side. Moments past before Scully took a breath;

"Hi mum, sorry no one called, we were pretty tired." She listened. Her eyes grew again, this time in surprise. "Really? So he got accepted? Thanks fantastic! When does he leave?" Another pause. "Wow. Okay, well I'm gonna come home and change before we go shopping; which reminds me: I left my backpack at his place. Mulder is coming here in about ten minutes anyway; he can run me home. He might, I don't think he'd remember that I left it there. Ok. Yes, you too. Bye." There was a pause.

"I know… I owe you big time. Bye Monica, we'll see you later."

She looked at the phone with a satisfied look. She grinned and let her head tip back. Mulder took a step forwards.

"Bill got accepted into the Navy. He leaves in 3 weeks." She tilted her head forwards to face Mulder. "The day after prom… and I get his bedroom." She grinned.

Mulder released a light chuckle at the latter comment. Unusual for Scully to be materialistic, especially involving her family.

"Well, crisis averted, I think we better go to your place." He leaned in very close to her. "And write some verbal fiction regarding your whereabouts of the previous evening." He grinned, still clutching his blanket.

Scully looked through the top of her eyelashes at him and smiled. She gently shut her eyes and gathered her composure.

"I have dibs on the bathroom first." She said with a playful seriousness.

"Ok." Mulder nodded. He watched her drag his sheet back down the hall way and into his room. He let out a steady breath, and could not resist a grin.

He followed her back to his bedroom.

When he entered he heard Scully's muttering from his bathroom. He grinned again.

"Wet hair… freaking afro now… needs a hair straightener or something."

------------------

"Somebody's freaking out." He mocked as he sat in the darkened passenger seat next to his girlfriend, clad in a flowing red dress and crimson hair up in a sleek and shining bun with parts of her hair criss-crossing. He squeezed her hand as the limousine came to a stop by the curb.

"I'm fine...." she sighed.

"But?"

"But my feet are squashed in these shoes, I have dozens of bobby pins impaling my scalp and my dress makes my boobs come up to my chin... I'm still fine." She huffed. Mulder shook his head and shoved his red tie back into his vest.

Outside his window he caught sight of his two friends Doggett and Reyes approaching the car. Bill -who had been volunteered into a random act of kindness by his mother- opened the door for the couple. His exams had finished early. Between packing for is recruit training in the navy and convincing Tara's parents he would be responsible enough to take their daughter with him, he felt enough humility to assist his baby sister.

"Cheers Bill!" Monica chirped mockingly as she patted him on the arm. She had far more experience with wearing dresses, evident by how easily she slid into the car next to Scully.

"Dana, you look amazing!" she hugged Scully gently. Her dress was glossy black and hugged her figure mercilessly. Even more dangerous was the slit in the side that ran high up on her thigh.

"Not as great as you do Monica, you're stunning." Scully awed. John leant around from Monica's shoulder.

"Hey, at least we all look good. Not as scary as Diana and Krychek. I mean, my god!" he chuckled.

Bill coughed loudly from the front seat.

They stayed silent for the drive, but all had grinned in agreement. On the way through, the way through bill was ordered to stop by frohike's place. The boys cleaned up acceptably for the event.

The line up of classic fords, limousines and carriages lined the street. Bill drove the limo in to join it. The occupants in the back seat fell into anxious silence as the butterflies invaded. The fear was irrational but overwhelming. An immense crowd had gathered for the occasion and the flash of cameras was fierce.

Scully did her best to control her anxiety. For most of the part, she succeeded. She knew the appearance of confidence was infectious, even if it was a farce. She breathed deeply through her nose. The front door got closer and closer.

Suddenly, they were the vehicle in front of the hotel door. Scully's heart pounded faster as Bill put on his thick sunglasses ad drivers cap and got out the door. Boys first. Bill opened the back door.

The gunmen jumped out first into the clapping crowds as they were announced.

"One small step for Mulder..." Mulder mumbled as he slid out the door behind his friends. Scully took several deep breaths, and twisted in her seat. Adrenaline took hold of her and she blindly searched for Mulder's hand. She found it.

The lights were bright. She heard the claps and cheers. She vaguely heard the sounds of her family cheering her on, and Monica and John emerge behind her. She and Mulder stood for a moment for spectators to take their photographs before she left the pull on her arm. They walked graciously to the main doors. She saw Charlie on the edge of the crowd. She held out her hand for him to high five. He gave her a strong high five and waves to her as they entered the foyer.

Many of the teachers had taken refuge within the foyer, many bearing cameras of their own. They passed through easily and were directed to the lounge. The photographer was calm and took her time for individual and couples portraits. The flashes were even harsher when ones stared directly at them.

Once the formal photographs were taken, the gunmen disappeared and Mulder and scully made their way out into the function room. A dozen round tables floated above a sea of yellow and white balloons and the dance floor looked like the island. Different couples crowded together. The girls admired each other's gowns, the boys complained of discomfort.

The two couples stuck together as they weaved around the room looking for their table. When they found it, they took their assigned seats and watched the continuous flow of student as they entered the room. Some of the gowns were spectacular, sparkling and chic and flamboyant. Scully was surprised at how well many of the boys had cleaned up; some even would be considered rather handsome.

Students continued to pass through the main doors for nearly an hour before Mr. Skinner made his way to the microphone stand on the stage in front of the dance floor. She was taken aback by his attire. Crisp black tuxedo: complete with green bowtie and white gloves. Okay, so it was slightly dorky, but still.

"I'd like everybody to take your seats please." He leant down to the microphone. Miss Kay stood behind him in a turquoise cocktail dress. "For some of you here tonight, I see a more daring side of your personalities. In others, I see sophistication, confidence, and sheer brilliance. I am, _somewhat_, proud to be able to see them." He continued his speech, as the student listened in relative silence.

He shook his head to recompose himself.

"The night is yours until dinner and the presentation of awards." He opened his arm to the DJ as the first song began to play.

Many of the girls were the first to invade the dance floor. The music was loud and Monica was the first of their group to stand up. Scully never felt she could dance, but to be honest with herself, she had never gotten up and tried. Monica took her handed and grinned. Crunch time.

To hell with it.

She yielded and let herself be engulfed in the sea of bouncing girls in gowns, outlined by rim of admiring boys. She let loose and did what most of her peers did. Bounced around to the music and grinning till her face began to hurt and a thin sheen of sweat had formed across her chest and face. Despite her lack of coordination, she fit in with crowd and surrendered to the sounds of the music.

The music faded out and Skinner found the microphone again.

"I'd like to hand out the first few awards of the evening." He announced the winners of some of the awards. Class clowns, best dressed, most unrecognizable. Monica took out the best dressed girl award and her friends cheered loud praises for her. The awards where humorous: funny toys mounted on little platforms. Mr. Skinner snuck of the stage and the dancing and conversing continued.

The evening carried on as more awards were given and dinner was served. The night continued in this fashion without undue drama. Scully even had a small and polite conversation with Diana in passing. She was in a painfully peachy mood. Eventually the sacred moment of announcing the prom king and queen arrived.

The school spook or the girl that fought with the lead cheerleader in class? Their chances were slim.

Luckily, neither Mulder nor scully took out the blessed award. Scully's stomach turned when it went to Ethan and Diana.

"Did you ever see an uglier couple?" Mulder whispered to her.

"I don't understand how anyone could vote for them..."

"The students have no say. Teachers pick the awards."

"I think the people that chose them are as unguided as the stereotyped adolescent masses that are probably more likely to make an informed decision about the people they elect as king and queen."

"Not bitter are we?" Mulder poked.

"Hell no." Scully sharply replied.

Mulder simply grinned. He loved to push her buttons. They all politely clapped as Diana and Ethan came together for their dance. Couples joined them on the dance floor. Scully felt a tug at her arm. 'Blue moon'. Someone had been watching 'Grease' whilst choosing the songs.

"Come on... this is a once in a life time opportunity." Mulder coaxed.

"Unless we decided to repeat this year."

Mulder managed to bring her to her feet.

"I meant getting me on the dance floor." He corrected.

It was true. Mulder was as uncoordinated as she was. She relented and allowed him to lead her onto the floor. He took the lead and they swayed together. Mulder kept his feet either within his sight or on the ground should he accidently step on her dress.

"Having fun?" Mulder asks as they sway.

"I am. I might even rate this as my best year of school."

"I might say the same. I'm glad you got that faulty locker scully."

"I'm glad you stopped by to help. I guess things happen for a reason."

"Well... I dunno. I think we shape our fate ourselves." Mulder shrugged.

Scully tilted her head in acceptance. Whilst they didn't often agree, they accepted each other's opinions and for the most part, preferred not to have the argument at all. She figured, there was no real reason to disagree unless they were going to be paid for it.

Eventually, the night had come to its end. Well, the official part of prom night that is. An after party was inevitable. But it wasn't far off of midnight and none of their group felt like socialising any further than they had already during the evening.

* * *

He was waiting on the sidewalk. A cigarette in one hand and a dime in the other. It was so dark. The moonlight cast a shadow of the building he stood against. He took his hand out of his pocket and checked his watch: 11:21. Almost time. He held the cigarette in his mouth and pulled at the lapels of his black suit. The thick leather under his suit was uncomfortable.

He watched the boy walk the black stretch limousine and get into the driver's side across the road.

'_Come on Laura. Stop playin' around.'_ He thought as he took a puff of his cigarette.

He was anxious and smoothed his satin black hair back off of his face. Thumping sounded from the limo and then silence. He waited. The high beams flicked on and then off again.

"Nice..." he squashed his cigarette into the pavement.

He crossed over to the limo. He placed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a key. Colin approached the Audi A6 parked in front of the limo. He opened the trunk. He heard Laura grunt from within the limo. He swaggered over to the vehicle and opened driver's side door. His partner sat in the seat next to bill, who was thoroughly unconscious. She was stuck with the knot she was tying around his limp wrists.

"Would you gimme a hand?!" she snapped, obviously frustrated.

Colin sniggered and leant into the vehicle and pulled Bill out of his seat, onto the bitumen. Bill's head hit the ground with a solid crunch.

"He better not bleed on my shoes." He threw a disgusted look down at Bill.

He knelt down and picked up bill with a loud and objecting groan. Slowly, he carried Bill to the car and dropped him into trunk. He took a moment to breath.

"Where's the cap thing?"

Laura came up behind him and fitted the cap onto his head. Bit big. No matter, it covered more of his head. He put the car key in her hand.

"Have fun." He grinned. She smiled and waggled her eyebrows. The pushed the trunk closed and got into the blue car.

Colin watched her drive off down the road.

He readjusted the cap and got into the driver's seat of the limousine.

* * *

"What time is Bill picking us up?" Mulder inquired.

"He'll be outside at about half past."

"Alright"

The group of friends left the hotel and crowded outside the main doors. 11:30 came and went. The night air was fresh and the full moon showered and eeriness down on the street. It was nearly quarter to midnight before the limo finally rolled up in front of the hotel.

"About time! Scully grumbled as she clung to Mulder's jacket. They all quickly dived into the limousine. It was warm inside. Bill must have been feeling considerate tonight. Oh well. Everyone was tired. Scully tried to sleep on Mulder's shoulder. Monica succeeded on John's. Little whistles escaped her lips whilst she slept. Scully smiled and took Mulder's hand, enlacing their fingers. He squeezed her hand and put his chin on her head. It was quiet.

Colin drove around the bend that swerved around the hills. The left turn curve in the road was coming up. This was going to hurt. Oh well, he was getting paid for it. He quietly unclipped his seatbelt. He pushed his foot down on the accelerator, hard.

___________

It happened within a second.

The limo sped up and scully found herself being pushed suddenly into the right side of the vehicle, then onto the roof. She hit parts of her friend's bodies and felt them crush her and then found herself thrown over top of them. The windows smashed and showered all of them in a cloud of broken glass. She hit the door and her world went black. She could hear it all going on around her. Inside her head. It went forever.

It stopped.

Her face was wet. She couldn't feel her body. She opened one eye. It was dark. Everything span and a sharp pain erupted in her chest.

Everything went black. In her mind's eye:

'_Mulder'_

------------------

He saw the abyss of the hill.

In the sharpest part of the curve, Colin turned the limo sharply to the left and pulled the hard brake. The back end of the limo spun out to the right. Against the centripetal force pulling him to the right, he pushed the door open and threw his body out of the skidding limo. He hit the road hard on his stomach and slid backwards a meter or two. Hurt like all hell. He heard the limo slide and then roll down the hill.

He rolled over onto his back.

"Fuck... me...." he groaned. He was thoroughly winded.

"In your dreams." He felt a hand on his face. "You alive there?"

"Yeah. That freakin' sucked though." He rolled back onto his stomach and pushed up onto all fours. A leather shoe appeared on the ground in front of him. Colin sat rubbed his head.

"A decent effort, at best." A voice said.

Around them, three white vans pulled up around them. Several men emerged from the backs. Some clad in white, others in black.

"What are they for?" Colin panted. Laura rubbed his back.

"Consider it... rewinding. The procedure is not very well refined, not for long periods of time, but where there is an influence, there is a way. For most of them, we will redefine their adolescence, for two of them, only a year is necessary. I would not wish to damage their minds any further. Divide and conquer. That is how many wars are won. But this is a different kind of war. These were not meant to come together. Not yet at least." The man took a puff of his cigarette. The end illuminated to reveal his aging face. Spender.

"Whatever. Just gimme my money." Colin choked.

One of the men in white requested the key to the trunk from Laura. She threw the car key at him.

Spender pulled his hand out of his pocket. A clip of notes fell to Colin's feet.

"You would be wise to go home tonight. It's a long drive, but it would be best taken now." He turned and walked to the edge of the road and looked down the hill.

Without speaking, Laura and Colin took the money and made their way to the Audi. They quickly drove off.

Without much finesse, bill was thrown down the hill. He rolled a lot of the way. Spender watched the scientists; all loyal to the syndicate, whether willingly or not. They cleaned the area with chemicals, high powered vacuums and other weird crap he couldn't be bothered identifying. It was tedious and he had more things to do.

Time for the real cleaning up to begin.

-------------

Phew, that was long :D


	20. Chapter 20

**DISCLAIMER: 'dear Chris, my 18****th**** just went and I received neither Mulder nor scully for my birthday! Shame on you! Can I have them next year please?' Guess not... :/ fine, you're not getting doctor Schrapel then!**

**Summary: Spender exercises the extent of his influential power and does some necessary cleaning.**

**A/note: one year of fanficcing on the 24****th**** Dec :) I've had a lot of caffeine and am feeling guilty for my shameful lack of consistency :(**

* * *

'_Did I leave them on my desk? No, I locked the door with them... did I lock the office? Great! Now I can't remember tha- ah, found them!'_

She opened the driver's side door and flopped into her seat. She took a large breath, ran her fingers through her orange hair and tipped her head back in reflection.

* * *

Jordyn schrapel's shift was almost over. She was a little more than ten minutes away from the end of an eight hour shift, before emergency called her down from her office to meet some victims of a car accident. At first she found it unusual for her to be called down for that kind of incident. She was chief surgeon after all. More of a paper pushing kind of roll. Though to be fair: it was nearly 4am when the ambulances arrived. That was why she was called. Three ambulances. Not just one.

Eight kids. More than kids; young adults. Prom night was like Christmas and Easter weekends. Notorious for accidents, but more local. It hit her hard to see their gowns and suits stained and torn to shreds. The vehicles came in within five minutes of each other.

She found triage difficult. It seemed ridiculous, but all of them, every single one had sustained significant head trauma. So many broken bones. So much blood...

'_she remembered being told she wasn't allowed to perform the surgery. Not even her seniority and authority could get her into the ER. She sat on the vinyl chair in the waiting room like every other anxious parent. She felt the pain of her husband's absence, but he was coming home as soon as she had called him. It killed her to not know what was going on. She was insecure. She should be in the loop of every part of the operations. _

_They had been trying for children for years. But luck was not on their side. When she finally did get pregnant, it was near to what she considered a miracle._

_The linoleum floor was engrossing. Time passed so quickly. Her mind was blank. She couldn't feel her phone in her hands anymore. She tried to spare herself the dangerous downward spiral of guilt. There was nothing she could have done to prevent it. Stephy knew better than to climb the tree near the fence. No. Stop. No time to get angry. That was even worse. God, there was so much blood and bone, and flesh hanging out of her body..._

"_Doctor Schrapel?"_

_She realised she had been crying. She tried to dry her face before standing up. Her long time friend, charlotte stood by the door in her blue scrub; her face mask under her chin_

"_is she... I mean what..." she couldn't continue. She wrapped her arms around herself._

"_Jordyn... I'm so sorry. With the blood loss and the internal blee-" charlotte began with honest sympathy._

_Jordyn raised a hand to silence her friend. Again, her mind was blank. Her baby... her little girl... she felt her legs threaten to give way. She saw charlotte come forth to hold her. She embraced her friend. She felt none of it.'_

She snapped out of her trip down memory lane and shook it off. It was so long ago. It still hurt. Aside from her husband, she allowed nobody; not even charlotte, to know exactly how much.

She took another big breath and put her key in the ignition. The car roared with more life than she felt at the moment. She might make it home in time for tea. Probably not. She looked up and nearly had a heart attack when she found herself face to face with a old gentleman standing with 2 feet of her car. She killed the engine and got up from her seat and stood inside her door.

"Can I help you?"

He smiled at her with his stained teeth and took a final puff of his cigarette before flicking it onto the ground.

"Of course. Maybe I can help you in return too." He came around the side of her car to stand in front of her. The car door her only protection.

"Early this morning you entertained some valuable guests. Eight of them."

"Are you a relative of one of the casualties?" she began.

"Not exactly. Though I do play a very large part in their lives."

Jordyn frowned.

"Either way... visiting hours are over at 7pm. Unless you are immed-" she began in her steely tone.

"You lost your daughter six years ago. Stephanie wasn't it? 'tis a shame" he slid hid hands into his pockets.

She stepped out from behind the car door and slammed it shut.

"Who are you?" she snarled.

"Those eight kids that were brought in earlier this morning need to be separated. I need _you_."

"What the hell are you on about?" she said coldly, her volume never increasing.

"The recommendation that their memory need not be recovered."

"How do you know about the trauma's damage to their memory?"

"A little birdie told me." He grinned.

"This is ridiculous." She concluded. She turned to get back into her car.

"I hear you husband is on tour in the gulf. Be a shame if anything were to happen to him..."

She turned back to face the stranger.

"What did you say?"

"Let's say my business can far messier than yours... and I don't wear gloves to protect me from the bloodshed."

No. This is absurd.

"I won't do it. The damage would be irreparable."

He took a step forward and snarled into her ear.

"You have _no idea_ of the damage caused if you _don't_." He pulled back. "Tomorrow. You will make your decision known. I don't care what your excuse is. In no way is anyone to help those kids regain their memory... the less they remember. The better off we'll _all_ be." He took a few lazy steps backwards.

She said nothing and got in her car whilst she still had the mental capacity to do so. Her mind was flooding.

* * *

Scully woke up in the hospital again. He was still there. The one they said was her father. She liked him very much. In the morning her mother came around to stay with her. She was a bit harder to get along with. At this stage of her recovery, she enjoyed seeing her father. He read a book to her ever night. Moby dick. He said it was her favourite. She liked it. He gave her an album. The faces were familiar. No one helped her. She liked it that way, she could do it herself. Bill was in the bed next to her; asleep again. He didn't talk much. When he did, he was pretty good to chat with for a little bit.

It was nearly 3 o'clock. Dr. Schrapel would be here soon. Dana liked her a lot. She was professional and friendly.

"Once you get out of here, we're going to be moving house." Her father said from the chair in the corner.

"Oh okay... where are we going to go?"

"Not far. Place called Maryland. You'll like it there. The high schools are excellent."

There was a knock at door. It was Dr. Schrapel.

"How are you Dana?"

"Mending." Scully smiled.

"Good to hear. I want have a look at that cut on your head; see if it's healed enough to take those stitches out. "

Scully promptly sat up in her bed. She hated trying to scratch her stitches. Every time she went to scratch her head, her nails caught on them.

Schrapel came up and started looking over the cut above her hairline.

"And how are you today Mr. Scully?"

"I got some news this morning. Seems the navy don't know when to let go of me. We'll be moving to Maryland once starbuck is released."

"Starbuck? Does that make you Ahab then Mr. Scully?"

"It does." Scully replied.

"I guess it does doctor." William grinned.

At least she remembered that. Not that he was one to argue, but Dana's doctor had strongly urged them not to help her regain her memories. As far as she new, she was about to finish junior year. But he wasn't the doctor here. Dana had made a lot of progress in the last week. He was sill astounding all the others had the same memory issues and she had dropped all her own patients in intensive care to oversee seven other teenagers. But like he said, he wasn't the doctor.

"I think moving would be a good idea. A fresh start for Dana. And... I think we can take out some of those stitches this afternoon."

"Sounds very good." Scully grinned. The stitches mostly. Moving house wasn't a drama to her.

"I've got to finish my rounds. But I will be back after 6, when I come in to check on bill and then we can get those out." She gently tapped scully's head. She turned to face William. "You know if your son was awake at this time of the day, I could check on him after Dana."

"He sleeps a lot. Far be it for me to change his sleeping patterns. Besides, means Dana and myself get to see our favourite doctor twice a day."

"Now that is a good enough excuse for me too. " Jordyn took her clipboard off the bed and left the room.

"I think if I ever became a doctor, it would be because of her." Scully pondered.

"I like the sound of that. Better than working for the government or the government or the military, they just stuff you around."

"Isn't bill going into the navy?"

"As soon as the doctor lets him out of here."

Scully wondered why bill looked depressed when he woke up. Maybe he blamed himself for the accident. Not that she remembered any of it. She just knew he picked her up from school, and they got into a bingle. She hated not remembering the whole year. It was pretty ridiculous. Bill remembered most of the year. He woke up thinking he had missed his exams.

She didn't yet know that bill got up early in the morning, whilst she was still asleep, to meet Tara out in the courts.

-------------------

Jordyn trudged down the crowded hallway to the end room. No lights on again. She felt sorry for the boy. Only child. His parents came in every now and then. They were there often at first, but then less and less. He seemed so distant. Although he did tell her off for not calling him Mulder.

She entered the boy's room. He was sitting on the windowsill. His knees up in his chest encircled by his arms.

"Afternoon Mulder. How are you feeling?"

He turned and looked at her. His eyes were so lost. He tried to smile. The movement was there, but not the expression.

She came and sat on the windowsill next to him. He looked back out the window. It was muggy and humid both inside and out. She ran a hand through her frizzing hair.

"Bad hair day." She commented, trying to lighten the gloom.

He looked at her. From her eyes, up to her hair, then back to her eyes.

"Red hair never has a bad hair day." He said with a lopsided grin. It faded quickly, and he went back to looking out the window.

"Well, you know, I reckon you might be able to get out of here in a couple of days. Good news huh?"

"I guess. Apparently I'm going to England as soon as that happens. Be good to finally get away. I kind of want to stay here though."

"I think It would be good to get away too."

He turned and looked her in the eye. His eyes had become heavy and dark.

"I _will_ come back here once I finish school. _I'm going to find my sister_. I've never had any other goal than that."

"Not even..." She began, and then stopped herself. Nothing to remind him of her.

"Not even what?"

She hesitated. "Not even university?"

"Mum and dad say I was planning on going to oxford. Become a psychologist or something. I never thought I'd be into that. Apparently it's all I ever wanted to be." He spun sideways and slide off the windowsill. He climbed back into the hospital bed and pulled the covers over his legs.

"I think it will help you find your sister." She shouldn't have said that, but it distracted his mind away from the year he lost.

"Thanks doc." He shrugged.

"No problem." She put her hand in her pocket and went to leave him when he spoke again. She was glad he had started talking.

"Hey doc?"

"Yes?"

"You know those nuts I get on my ice cream for dessert? Um... you reckon I'd be able to get something different? The staff won't really let me have any other, I thought if you asked..."

"What kind? Macadamias? Pasticcio? Cashew? Sunflower?"

"Yes! Sunflowers!" he jumped at the offer.

She grinned. "I'll see what I can do, even if I bring you a bag and you put them on yourself."

He nodded and grinned. He had a nice smile. Almost innocent and unburdened.

"I'll l see you tomorrow."

"Thanks doc." He replied as she left.

She came through with her promise. She brought him a bag of sunflower kernels. The day she came to tell him he was allowed to leave, she found he hadn't eaten his ice cream, and had finished the bag off.

* * *

It was nearly two weeks before all of the patients were released. Never two on the same day. They were all moving somewhere else. She felt sick that some people had that much power over other people's lives.

She went home after bidding farewell to the scully's. She sat in the car after the engine died and cried. All those families. Blackmailed and threatened into silence, made only easier to comply by her own manipulation. Denying well-wishers and defying her own oath to do no harm.

She didn't understand.

And it killed her to do so much harm to innocent people.

__________________

**Right, now I'm off for a course till the 17****th**** of January. Wish me luck!!! Or I may make a mad dash to finish this story before I go. We'll see.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I owneth it not. Please sueth me not also.**

**Summary: **_**'The following story is inspired by actual documented events.' **_**And now we return to the big inning... when Mulder and scully started off, going head to head in beliefs and personalities to become the most loved investigators in television history. Let's do this people!**

**A/note: sad now... this story comes to a close. But where one door closes... yadda yadda yadda. *sniff sniff* well, another book to add to my mini shelve of pride. Peace and love to readers and reviewers. **

**Also... not much of a timeline here. These are connecting events of a literature montage from Mulder's time in the X Files before scully, in lead up to the pilot. Oddly short, this chapter is.**

**---------------**

He had learnt as a little kid that if one complains enough, eventually, one gets his way.

----------------

He had never been interested in criminal profiling, despite his incredible natural knack for it. He never thought he would have thanked a photocopier for breaking down.

He hit the mechanical bastard until it became unresponsive. He let out a loud frustrated growl at the machine and turned to walk out the basement door. He hated having to go down to the basement most of the time anyway.

He almost made it to the door before turning around to give it a full kick. His foot connected with the copier hard. Hard enough to not only cause him great pain, but to also slam his knee into the front.

"Aargh!" He yelled in pain as he hopped across the room to find something to lean on. He plastered his hand on one of the plastic covered filing cabinets and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.

"Goddamit..." he huffed. He began to massage his knee. During his early years of college he went through a painful group spurt, leaving him with very sensitive ligaments.

It took a few moments for his foot to ease to a steady throbbing and he could place it on the ground. He frowned and sighed at his foot. Well, he certainly had screwed the copier up mighty well this time. He put his hand on his hip and glared at the copier. Sudden curiosity as to what he had been leaning on nagged at him. He tilted his head sideways and looked under the plastic.

He stood up and ripped the plastic off the black filing cabinets. He opened the top draw. Red folders filled the draw from front to the very back tightly. He probably been looking, but oh well. Who was going to know? He picked a random file and opened it. Crop circles? He replaced the file and chose another. This one had pictures and interviews with a woman in Connecticut who claimed to have the power of invincibility. His curiosity grew further. He continued looking through the files. Cattle mutilations, alien abductions, paranormal creatures, people with extraordinary abilities. The list went on. He found many accounted of alien encounters of varying degrees. He closed the draw and looked at letter on the front. It was an 'X'.

His head was swimming with intrigue and possibilities. He had finally found something interesting that would help him find his sister.

That afternoon Fox Mulder requested reassignment to the long closed division know as 'The X Files'.

----------------

It took a lot of her personal restraint to maintain ignorance to Mulder's mail on his small desk. A long package, almost a metre long sat right under her nose, yet she dared not touch it. She had to admit, the cases _were_ very interesting. But she had a job to do. He had to guide Mulder down the path Spencer wanted him to walk. It was getting harder every day. She heard him trudging down the hall way towards the office, if one could call it that.

"You have mail." She smiled as soon as he came through the door.

"AD wants you upstairs. Anyone we know?"

"No return address."

"Well, let see what Santa brought me this year." Mulder picked up the package and tore open one end.

One of those cardboard tube for mailing posters and stuff slid out. Mulder grabbed it and whacked it down on his desk without opening it. He looked down to the base of the package before sticking his arm down. He pulled out an unmarked letter.

"I'll be back later fox." She grinned as she walked out the door.

"yep." Mulder replied without looking. His attention was on the envelope in his hand.

He went around the other side of his desk and slumped into the swivel chair. He snatched a pencil off the desk and stabbed it through the end of the envelope and pulled it sideways, tearing off one side. He pulled out the single sheet of paper.

'_Mulder, _

_I hope this helps you find what you are searching for. I hope, even more so: that you remember this._

_May you find peace.'_

Absolutely riddled with intrigue, he picked up the cardboard tube and pulled the red cap off an end. He pulled out a glossy sheet of paper. It was a poster. A UFO hovered over some pine trees in the blue sky. At the bottom was the phrase: 'I want to believe'. He frowned in confusion and flipped it over to check the back.

Scrawled across the back in black felt tip was a message:

'_D.S for F.M_

_Don't give up_.'

Now it may sound stupid, but the handwriting looked painfully familiar to him. Like he had seen someone writing that way or something. He didn't know. D.S? Who was that? He knew the F.M was referring to him, but the other name had him thrown. It wasn't Diana. He picked up the letter and compared the handwriting. There were slight differences. Like the variation in a child's handwriting to their parent or their siblings.

Never the less, he felt the need to hang the poster up. He pinned it behind his desk. He sat there and stared at it for a long time. The sound of the door opening startled him. He spun around to see a forlorn looking Diana standing in front of him.

"I'm leaving the X Files Fox..."

----------------

Of all the torture that had been inflicted upon him whilst working on the X Files, a new partner was right up there. A doctor none the less. Oh what joy Fox Mulder did _not_ feel. Thus far, that was all he knew about his new partner. That and it was another woman. God had at least shown him one kindness. He was attempting to find his latest case file on a boy called Billy Miles when Arlene, Skinner's secretary knocked on his door.

"I finally got hold of the personnel file you requested for your new partner."

"You know I love you Arlene, right?" Mulder grinned.

"Most people do, agent Mulder. If you need anything, you know where I am."

"Cheers Arlene." Mulder called as she walked out of the room. He picked up a pencil and crunched it between his teeth.

He slid his glasses down to the edge of his nose and swung his feet up and over the corner of his desk. He read the name on the file cover and dropped his pencil, sending it to the floor. Dana Katherine scully.

He flipped open the file and stared carefully at the picture. No way. It was a coincidence. He had to be sure it was. He ripped his feet off the desk and pushed his chair backwards slightly towards the wall. He unpinned the bottom of his poster and peered underneath. D.S.

It was coincidence. Surely.

Regardless, there was something about her face. Hair like that should stand out in a person's mind. Mulder felt it should have. It was like she was a face he had glanced at across the playground as a child or something. He didn't know. His memories from his childhood were vague at best.

But still...

* * *

**I believe, my dear readers, that this is the end of my fair tale, and the beginning of a greater (award winning) one. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. The sender, by the way, I intended was Melissa. God bless, think peace. Reviews would be lovely too.**


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